The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. January 7, 2026 American Federation of Teachers Sues Texas Education Department for Probing Teachers' Speech After Charlie Kirk's Death ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Texas's education department for targeting hundreds of educators for their social media posts on the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The lawsuit says, "Public school teachers and other employees do not surrender their first amendment rights simply by virtue of their employment." The lawsuit is challenging a letter sent by the Texas education department to school superintendents, instructing them to report educators who made "reprehensible and inappropriate" remarks about Kirk. .