The settlement resolves a First Amendment lawsuit brought after Michelle Mickens was placed on leave over a private Facebook post.
A former Georgia teacher has reached a settlement with a local school district over disciplinary action taken after she posted about the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Michelle Mickens settled her lawsuit with the Oglethorpe County School District on July 3, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which represented her.
The SPLC filed the lawsuit in October after Mickens was placed on indefinite leave and allegedly encouraged to resign over comments posted on her private Facebook account following Kirk’s fatal shooting at a Utah university on Sept. 10.
The filing states that Mickens and the school district jointly agreed to dismiss all claims with prejudice, with each side responsible for its own legal fees and costs.
Her case emerged amid a broader wave of disciplinary action against workers accused of celebrating, mocking, or making controversial remarks about Kirk’s assassination.
Teachers, airline pilots, university employees, military personnel, and a Secret Service agent were among those suspended, investigated, or dismissed in the days following his death.
“I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.- Charlie Kirk,” Mickens’s initial post reads, a direct quote from Kirk.
The comment sparked a discussion between Mickens and several friends, some of whom disagreed with her sharing, which led Mickens to respond later that evening to a Facebook friend, stating:
“I don’t condone violence of any kind, and I certainly don’t condone this, but he was a horrible person, a fascist full of hate for anyone who was different. While I’m sad that we live in a country where gun violence is an epidemic, the world is a bit safer without him.
“I didn’t respect him at all, and he’s part of the hatred and vitriolic language we hear so much now. I pray that without him, people can be kinder and more tolerant to one another.”
By Owen Evans
