U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear free speech struggles about teachers who have fired social media posts
John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case involving a Massachusetts public school teacher, prosecuted on the grounds of freedom of speech after her school fired her social media post.
The Justice rejected plaintiff Kari Macrae’s appeal, that is, the lower court refused to take action, demanding compensation from Hanover public schools and school officials. The lower court held that, as MacRae said, officials and regions did not violate the First Amendment protection of government freedom of speech by the U.S. Constitution.
MacRae was fired in 2021 after school officials discovered that she liked, shared, posted or reposted with her Tiktok account, characterized by officials’ memes that contained “themes of homophobia, phobia and racism.”
According to court records, a meme shows a photo of Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who served as assistant secretary of U.S. health during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, and wrote: “I am an expert in mental health and food diseases.” …A fat man who says she is a woman. “Another meme shows a picture of a muscular bearded man wearing a sports bra that says, “Hi, my name is Meagan, I’m here to compete in girls’ track and field. ”
Another showed a picture of a panda that read: “Man, racism is stupid. I’m black, white and Asian. But everyone loves me,” according to court records.
According to court records, the controversial position was months before the school hired Macrae.
McCree is currently serving as a Republican in the Massachusetts Senate.
Also prior to the recruitment, MacRae posted a video on Tiktok in 2021 as part of her successful bid for a school board position in different school districts, saying “critical race theory” should not be taught in public schools and that “should not” teach them “should not” teach them to choose whether they want to be a girl or a boy. ”
MacRae was fired for about a month after hiring math and business teachers in the school district. “Continuing your work based on your social media posts will have a significant negative impact on student learning at the school,” the school official said in a termination letter from Macrae.
Macrae accused Hanover public school and school officials of illegal revenge on her in response to First Amendment remarks.
The dispute involved a 1968 Supreme Court ruling involving First Amendment rights of public employees. The court ruled in the case that while public employees did not lose their right to express themselves in terms of public importance, the employee’s right to freedom of speech must be weighed in order to maintain the interests of an undisturbed workplace with the government.
A federal judge in Boston applied for a previous Supreme Court ruling in a 2023 ruling and determined that Hanover public schools have shown enough evidence to prove the possibility of Macrae’s expulsion. The judge also ruled that school officials have the right to qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that broadly obscures the responsibilities of public officials.
The Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, prompting Macrae to appeal to the Supreme Court.
McCra believes that previous Supreme Court rulings should not apply to her case because it involves comments from a employed teacher, and McCra’s social media post was posted before employment in Hannover public schools.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote on Monday that although he agreed to the court’s decision to reject Macrae’s appeal, he hopes to make it clear in future cases that public employers cannot rely on previous court rulings to ruling employees “to express adverse political views.”
(Reported by John Kruzel; Edited by Will Dunham)
