It’s been more than three months since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking to college students in Utah.
The fact that his name is still dominating conversations around the country says a lot about the impact Kirk, 31, had during his short life.
Two recent federal lawsuits, filed in December, speak to the strong feelings people had about him, both for and against. More important, the lawsuits are a reminder that the government has no business telling us what political views are acceptable.
In one case, a North Carolina high school student faced retaliation from her school for painting a spirit rock in honor of Kirk.
In the other, a retired law enforcement officer in Tennessee got thrown in jail for more than a month after posting a meme about a Kirk vigil on social media.
Both cases are clear free speech violations and center on why the First Amendment is so vital to our freedom as Americans.
A few days after Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10, a junior at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte got permission from school officials to paint the school’s spirit rock with messages in honor of the assassinated conservative’s mission and his faith.
The student (referred to as “G.S.” in the lawsuit because she is minor), her parents and two fellow students then painted the rock with the words “Freedom 1776” and “Live Like Kirk – John 11:25.”
Just hours after they finished painting, school officials had a change of heart and ordered the reference to Kirk and the Bible verse be painted over.
To make matters worse, her lawsuit says officials sent out a schoolwide email the following day, accusing the student of vandalism and saying that law enforcement was conducting an investigation.
A few days later, school officials released a revised “Spirit Rock Speech Code” that only allows messages that “uphold the inclusive values of our school community” and explicitly bans religious and political messages. The school had previously allowed messages in support of Black Lives Matter, the lawsuit states.
That’s why the student and her parents, with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom, decided to sue the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in the violation of her constitutional rights.
“No student should be censored, punished, and shamed by school officials simply for sharing her views,” said ADF senior counsel Travis Barham in a statement. “Charlie Kirk boldly defended open and respectful discourse on school grounds literally until his last breath, and this courage inspired many across the country, including the student who painted the message on Ardrey Kell High School’s spirit rock. This situation goes beyond irony, however, as school officials illegally censored and threatened students for sharing a widely held message with which they happened to disagree.”
Meanwhile, in Lexington, retired police officer Larry Bushart was arrested later in September, and he spent 37 days in jail and was held on a $2 million bond, which he could not afford.
His crime? Posting a meme after Kirk’s assassination.
Bushart commented on a Facebook post for a Kirk vigil in nearby Perry County, Tennessee. The meme, which he didn’t create, had a photo of President Donald Trump along with a quote from Trump, “We have to get over it,” following a January 2024 school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. Bushart included the following comment with the meme: “This seems relevant today…”
Area law enforcement took the meme as a threat to a local school, which it wasn’t at all.
With assistance from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Bushart is suing the sheriff and the county in the violation of his constitutional rights.
“If police can come to your door in the middle of the night and put you behind bars based on nothing more than an entirely false and contrived interpretation of a Facebook post, no one’s First Amendment rights are safe,” said FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh in a statement.
Kudos to both the high school student and this former cop for pushing back against government censorship of perfectly legal speech – and standing for the rights all Americans share.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques