The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Georgia teacher Michelle Mickens against her employer, the Oglethorpe County School System, after it unconstitutionally punished her for exercising her First Amendment rights by posting about political commentator Charlie Kirk on her personal Facebook page.
After Kirk’s assassination, Mickens posted a verbatim quote from the commentator on her personal Facebook page and participated in an online discussion with her Facebook friends who commented on the post. In the discussion, she was critical of Kirk’s opposition to gun control, but she also condemned political violence and articulated her hope for a safer world.
Mickens has been a high school educator in Georgia for 24 years and was a statewide finalist for the 2022 Georgia Teacher of the Year. Yet, after online agitators shared her post with groups aiming to retaliate against teachers critical of Kirk, her school placed her on leave. The Oglethorpe County School System now intends to terminate her solely for engaging in constitutionally protected speech that caused no disruption to the school or her students.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court Middle District of Georgia Athens Division, seeks to restore Mickens’ job and protect the rights of all educators against censorship and intimidation.
