Lawsuit over state investigations into Texas teachers’ posts about Charlie Kirk dismissed
By Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune
January 6, 2026
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath and his agency from investigating teachers accused of making inappropriate social media remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The Texas American Federation of Teachers filed the suit, arguing on Jan. 6 that Morath “unleashed a wave of retaliation and disciplinary actions against teachers” when he sent a letter to school districts urging them to report “reprehensible and inappropriate” content about Kirk’s killing last year.
In an Aug. 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright said the union failed to prove that Morath’s guidance caused harm to teachers.
“The Court does not see any ‘mandate’ in the letter, because the Morath Letter does not announce any new requirement or threat from Commissioner Morath,” Albright wrote. “If the principals were required to report teachers, it was due to in-place policies and regulations as the Morath Letter did not create any new obligations on behalf of the school districts.”
Texas AFT wanted the court to require that Morath retract his directive. The lawsuit also asked the judge to require that Morath issue new guidance making clear to superintendents that they do not have to report such conduct to the state if the alleged speech is legally protected.
Texas Education Agency officials said they had dismissed hundreds of complaints, finding many unsubstantiated.
Here’s what we know.
Background: As of October 2025, the Texas Education Agency investigated more than 350 complaints that educators made inappropriate social media remarks about Charlie Kirk, the late conservative activist who was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah college.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit known mostly for its work on college campuses, where the organization promotes itself as a hub for open debate and urges students to “promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” Kirk was often praised by conservatives as a champion of free speech. He was criticized for comments that many Americans found hateful toward LGBTQ+ communities, non-Christians, people of color and women.
After his death, Texas lawmakers and activists called for the firings and removals of anyone mocking Kirk or celebrating his death online.
Morath sent the letter to district superintendents, saying he planned to refer “all documentation of educators that have proliferated such vile content” to his agency’s investigations unit. The investigators would determine if the content violates Texas educators’ code of ethics and whether it warranted disciplinary action, Morath added.
Morath and Gov. Greg Abbott said teachers whose actions called for or incited violence would have their teaching license suspended by the State Board for Educator Certification. Morath also called on school leaders to report additional instances of alleged misconduct related to Kirk’s killing to the education agency, which has typically conducted such investigations for acts like abuse or harassment.
The education agency has not released details about what the hundreds of complaints allege. The Texas Attorney General’s Office said the agency does not have to provide records of the complaints.
In January, agency officials said 95 complaints remained under review.
Many districts’ administrators responded to complaints with statements condemning what they described as hateful rhetoric. Some suspended or fired employees whose comments they felt violated their local codes of conduct.
Why the Texas American Federation of Teachers sued: The union cited the cases of four members who it believed faced unfair disciplinary action for private social media remarks related to Kirk’s death. Those actions included termination, being subjected to investigations, or having their employment records negatively marked.
In each of those cases, the teachers faced discipline “solely for their speech, without any regard to whether the posts disrupted school operations in any way,” according to the complaint. The teachers’ comments ranged from criticizing Kirk for statements he made about Black Americans to condemning the activist’s stance on immigration, the suit states.
The lawsuit describes Morath’s letter asking superintendents to report inappropriate social media posts as “vague” and “overbroad” because it does not ask school leaders to evaluate such posts’ impact on the school environment.
The lawsuit notes that the letter has led to arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement across districts.
It adds that the education agency did not issue similar letters with respect to teachers who posted about the recent shootings of Democratic Minnesota lawmakers Melissa Hortman or John Hoffman. A gunman killed Hortman and her husband at their home while wounding Hoffman and his wife at their residence.
“Instead, the TEA appears to mandate investigations only for school personnel voicing criticism of the Commissioner’s preferred political figure,” the lawsuit says.
Numerous Texas AFT members have since deleted their social media posts and accounts. The lawsuit says the latter shows that teachers “remain fearful” about sharing their opinions on matters of public concern if their viewpoints do not align with those of the Texas state government.
“I’ve never seen anything in modernity be something like this,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the national AFT, “where somebody said, ‘Look for, find somebody who said something you don’t like about Charlie Kirk — report them so we can fire them.'”
What the Texas Education Agency is saying: Education agency officials described Morath’s letter as only a “reminder” of a policy that already existed, noting that the commissioner does not employ teachers — schools do.
Even so, the agency still has an interest in teacher professionalism and ethics, which includes “promoting a safe and efficient learning environment for schoolchildren and maintaining community trust,” they argued to the judge.
The officials pushed back on the assertion that Morath’s letter was vague, saying that people “of common intelligence” can understand it.
“The existing Educators’ Code of Ethics has been in place since 1988, and the Misconduct Reporting Portal has existed since 2020,” they noted in a court filing. “The Policy also does not impose a mandatory duty on superintendents to do anything. Superintendents already have a mandatory duty to report certain categories of educator misconduct to the TEA under existing policies.”
Agency officials said in a February filing that no Texas AFT members had faced discipline from the State Board for Educator Certification for comments about Kirk’s death.
In a September 2025 statement, Morath said, “While all educators are held to a high standard of professionalism, there is a difference between comments made in poor taste and those that call for and incite further violence — the latter of which is clearly unacceptable.”
During a November event at the University of Texas at Austin, Morath said some of the complaints “are clearly people that are personally settling scores with others they don’t like.”
Those cases would just get closed, Morath said. “The ones that we’re going after, from an enforcement perspective, are very clearly violations of the educator code of conduct.”
Broader impact: Legal experts previously told the Tribune that if the state wants to discipline an educator for speaking in their personal capacity, it needs to consider whether the teacher’s comments caused a significant disruption to the workplace or their ability to do their job.
Punishments against educators speaking on a private grievance or a matter of public concern could violate First Amendment protections, as could policies or actions that cause employees to refrain from speaking on public matters out of caution, experts said.
Disclosure: Texas AFT and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.