Charlie Kirk Free Speech Fight Ends in $1.9 Million Settlement

[00:00:00]Charlie Killer built his brand on one argument that universities punish people for the speech that they don't like. And now it turns out that there was a university professor that spoke out against him after he was assassinated and she was punished. And now those tables have been turned. She uh just won a $1.9 million settlement as a result of this at the University of Tennessee.

[00:00:25]They agreed to pay her $ 1.9 billion over a professor had fired for a Facebook post where she talked about Charlie Kirk's death and criticized him and his wife Erica Kirk. So this is I think important news. It's big news. We saw this happen throughout the country.

[00:00:40]You know, backlash and people getting fired, losing their jobs over expressing free speech, which is ironically something that Charlie Kirk stood for.

[00:00:48]Um, and we're going to cover this particular incident, but just these principles in general and and the kind of law behind a case like this. I'm Sean Prinik and I'm joined by Brian Kedc, my law partner and co-host on another installment of Civil Action on the Legal AF Network. Brian, um, tell us, you know, give us some context about what's happened here.

[00:01:07]>> Her name is Tamar Sherinian, anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

[00:01:13]uh tenure track which means and close to getting tenure which means basically a lifetime appointment at a university.

[00:01:20]It's a very big deal. It means a lot in higher education and to be a tenure professor means not only job security means it gives you the freedom and ability to write to do research. Big deal. She's almost there. And Charlie Kirk is murdered September 2025. We know that. So, she posts something on her Facebook post. Now, I'm going to say this. I'm going to be very clear about this is that the post was not was pretty insensitive, but it was posted on her private um Facebook account. And let's face it, Charlie Kirk said a lot of things that were insensitive over time.

[00:01:57]>> You know who said things that were insensitive? Donald Trump at Charlie Kirk's memorial or funeral or whatever.

[00:02:02]>> Yeah.

[00:02:02]>> In fact, what he said was um I hate my enemies. Right.

[00:02:07]>> Yeah.

[00:02:08]>> My So, what did she say? And I think it's out of fairness and trying to be, you know, somewhat journalistic here. Um the the her exact comments on her personal post, which was later deleted, the world is better off without him in it. Even those who are claiming to be sad for his wife and kids, like his kids are better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him and his wife. Well, she's a sick F for marrying him, so I don't care about her feelings.

[00:02:32]Close quote. Okay, we can all agree that it's insensitive. I mean, if you don't look at that and go, it's insensitive, then then okay, fine. But the problem is we have something in this country, Sean, and maybe you learned about it in a law school called the First Amendment.

[00:02:45]>> I did learn about >> share a little bit of information about the First Amendment.

[00:02:48]>> Uh, yeah, it protects the freedom of speech. Um, and it I don't know how much more I could say about that. I mean, it's a pretty fundamental principle. And >> number two, she's working for a state university, right? A governmental entity.

[00:03:05]>> Yeah. governmental entity, >> right? Different and we talked about this in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination that you know private entities might have an easier time terminating someone over this or or disciplining them or something like that, but this is a public entity. This is a governmental entity, right? The the the University of Tennessee. So >> she also she also it was at the same time she was commenting on or unfriending people who on Facebook were comparing Charlie Kirk to Jesus Christ.

[00:03:36]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:38]>> No, she that's what she sued for by the way. Retaliation. Retaliation for engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment. And just recently, the University of Tennessee approved a tenative $1.9 million settlement in a non-public session. Uh, no reinstatement, but they're paying her these damages. And, you know, to if you look at it, if you look at her career trajectory, I think she was on track to become a tenure professor. So, you know, >> right? So, let's go through a couple of factors here. So, on the legal basis, first of all, we talked about the first amendment. Secondly, she never did it in a capacity as an employee of or a representative of the University of Tennessee. She didn't do anything that said, you know, I'm doing this because in my capacity. She didn't walk into a classroom. She didn't teach this to anybody. She simply made it on a private personal social media account. So, it would be the equivalent of standing on the corner someplace holding up a sign that said the same thing, right?

[00:04:38]>> And and that's what it did. And then we had governmental pressure including a state representative demanding that she be fired and um also going to donors of the university to put pressure that she be fired for this. So you know you could draw a scenario Seant where if she was acting in her official capacity, she was doing something inappropriate in her official capacity, she could possibly be disciplined. But even then these universities and governmental entities have you know process and procedure for doing it. You don't just fire people. Um and she um so her settlement was record-breaking for anybody who has been terminated from their job as a result of comments about Charlie Kirk. $1.9 million >> because there's been other settlements like this too. More public money. you know, you you're now adding this to sort of tab that it's costing the public in general. You know, some of it's state tax money, but it's still public money, these settlements, um that are the result of these these, you know, institutions in in other places taking actions that that violate the Constitution. I mean, there's no other way to look at it. And and the the irony here, like I said, is that this was Charlie Kirk was someone that stood for the freedom of speech. We might not agree with what he was saying, but one of his big things was especially in public institutions like universities.

[00:06:03]He he always took the position that public institutions have become sort of a leftist echochamber and we need to have these open discussions and be able to talk about how we hate immigrants or whatever position he took. And some of it was hateful positions. Um, so he was very big on that and that that I I said this from day one. That is something about him that I I will admittedly respect that he pushed for freedom of speech. I think that's fine in any form.

[00:06:29]But then you have his disciples or followers or supporters and the MAGA loyalists who for some reason choose to apply it only to one side. And when you have somebody like this here privately saying something, she gets terminated.

[00:06:42]And as you discussed after after pressure coming from, you know, donors and legislators and things like that.

[00:06:49]So, you know, it's a it's an issue. It's a major issue.

[00:06:53]>> I I I want to mention that that this like you said, this isn't this isn't the first and this won't be the last. We have cases at Ball State University in Indiana. We have cases at uh uh other universities across the country, Clemson, University of South Dakota, public sector workers, including police officers. Most of these have resulted so far in payouts. I mean, I guess, you know, it's like my father used to say to me, you know, don't overreact and and don't let people get your goat. people should have taken a deep breath after this. And if somebody didn't like the comments people were making, you know, society will fill in the the blanks there and and instead you go out and you overreact and you fire these people and now, you know, she's sitting there with $1.9 million. One of the interesting thing is she wasn't reinstated. A lot of these other cases have reinstatement.

[00:07:43]She wasn't reinstated. Um something tells me Seant that Tamar uh Shiran Shernani >> will not have a problem getting another job.

[00:07:54]>> Yeah.

[00:07:54]>> Come to California tomorrow. We will absolutely help you get a job in California at one of our universities here.

[00:08:01]>> You'll personally help, Brian.

[00:08:02]>> We Yes. You will be welcome with open arms. Tell you >> Brian will personally help. You heard it here.

[00:08:08]>> No, I'm sincere though. There's lots >> I know. I am kind of kidding. Yeah, of course. kind of see where she's going to find where she's going to find a job.

[00:08:15]>> Yeah. Well, thanks for tuning in. We we'll we'll we're always willing to cover uh First Amendment issues like this, important issues that affect the public discourse and dialogue on things like this. So stay tuned for more on this. Thanks for tuning in to another installment of Civil Action on the Legal AF Network. Again, if you like this content, hit that subscribe button to keep up to date with us. Share with us your comments, your feedback. You can reach us by email. You can find us on our website at kbkawyers.com.

[00:08:40]We love hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.

[00:08:43]>> Can't get your fill of legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing [music] or a oral argument.

[00:08:53]Come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, wait for it, [music] Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal Alay are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got adfree versions of the podcast. and hot takes where legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe