State government employees are taking to the courts after being fired over social media posts criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk upon his assassination.

More than a dozen employees, from a Tennessee high school science teacher to a landscape supervisor at Auburn University, have sued over allegations their punishments violate the First Amendment.

The challenges raise questions of the line between official and private speech and states’ ability to police employees’ social media while off the clock.

Kirk, 31, a prominent conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA, was fatally shot last month while speaking at Utah Valley University. His alleged killer is in custody and faces criminal charges.

As the assassination reinvigorated a national reckoning over political violence, prominent influencers and Republicans pressured employers to fire people who responded to Kirk’s assassination by criticizing him. Even Vice President Vance joined in, telling people to “call them out, and hell, call their employer.”

Many of the terminations involve media companies, airlines and other private companies not subject to the First Amendment. But state governments are, and their firings are now inundating the courts.

In one of the most recent lawsuits, Auburn University landscape supervisor Kevin Courtwright is seeking reinstatement after being fired over a post and comments he made on Facebook.

“One fascist down; a whole socio-political movement go. FAFO nazi trash,” Courtwright wrote the night of Kirk’s killing.

Courtwright says he took down the comments after an Auburn official encouraged him to do so. The school later fired him.

“However ill-considered Defendant perceived Plaintiff’s comments to be, his comments did not render him unfit for his job as a Landscape Supervisor,” the lawsuit reads.

Explaining why he took aim at Kirk’s pro-gun rights stance,........

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