From Axios:
At least $2 million in settlements has been agreed to after employees and other critics were fired or penalized over their posts about Charlie Kirk following his killing.
Kirk's death became a catalyst for a free speech debate with repercussions that were backed by the Trump administration.
Ball State University this week agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit the ACLU brought on behalf of Suzanne Swierc, who was fired after posting about Kirk.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission settled a lawsuit last week with biologist Brittney Brown for $485,000 after she was fired for reposting a meme criticizing Kirk on her personal Instagram account.
Retired police officer Larry Bushart secured an $835,000 settlement from a Tennessee county and its sheriff after he was arrested and held for 37 days in connection with a meme he shared on a post about a vigil for Kirk.
Quote from: MU82 on May 29, 2026, 10:43:16 AMFrom Axios:
At least $2 million in settlements has been agreed to after employees and other critics were fired or penalized over their posts about Charlie Kirk following his killing.
Kirk's death became a catalyst for a free speech debate with repercussions that were backed by the Trump administration.
Ball State University this week agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit the ACLU brought on behalf of Suzanne Swierc, who was fired after posting about Kirk.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission settled a lawsuit last week with biologist Brittney Brown for $485,000 after she was fired for reposting a meme criticizing Kirk on her personal Instagram account.
Retired police officer Larry Bushart secured an $835,000 settlement from a Tennessee county and its sheriff after he was arrested and held for 37 days in connection with a meme he shared on a post about a vigil for Kirk.
Suzanne is a friend of mine. She used to work in the office next to my old office at TAMU for several years before taking the job at Ball State. Her post about Kirk was mind-numbingly benign. But Ball State will probably take this as a win because if they didn't fire her, the retaliation they would have faced from Indiana's governor would have cost them millions.
Quote from: TAMU, Knower of Ball on May 29, 2026, 10:50:22 AMSuzanne is a friend of mine. She used to work in the office next to my old office at TAMU for several years before taking the job at Ball State. Her post about Kirk was mind-numbingly benign. But Ball State will probably take this as a win because if they didn't fire her, the retaliation they would have faced from Indiana's governor would have cost them millions.
I'm glad she got paid.
The irony of all these attempts to curtail freedom of speech is that Kirk's best quality was that he was a champion of freedom of speech.
What a pain in the neck this all was
What a massive head(ache)
Bloody unfortunate
I am glad they won their cases, but even a Supreme Court Justice would like to ban speech she does not agree with. Justice Brown was the lone dissenter in Chiles vs Salazar. I hope she remains a minority.
Free speech protects us all and I am old enough to remember when the ACLU actually protected speech that they did not agree with when they won their case so the Neo Nazis could march down the streets of Skokie.
Quote from: muwarrior69 on May 30, 2026, 09:06:25 AMI am glad they won their cases, but even a Supreme Court Justice would like to ban speech she does not agree with. Justice Brown was the lone dissenter in Chiles vs Salazar. I hope she remains a minority.
Free speech protects us all and I am old enough to remember when the ACLU actually protected speech that they did not agree with when they won their case so the Neo Nazis could march down the streets of Skokie.
I don't think she's going to stop being black anytime soon