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 viol

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