Trump's Trials - Free speech lawsuits mount after Charlie Kirk assassination

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Five months after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, a wave of lawsuits reveals how Americans were investigated, fired, and in one case, arrested for their online reactions to his death. NPR's Martin Kaste reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. Every single day in the Oval Office, the president looks at us and says, why haven't we done more? This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR.

From NPR news, I'm Laila Falded. Five months after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, the lawsuits are stacking up. People say they were punished for what they said about his death. NPR's Martin Costi reports. The most dramatic case is probably that of Larry Bushart in Lexington, Tennessee, who on September 21st had the police show up at his door. They were very vague. I don't think they understood why they were there.

but that it involved Facebook post. Bushhart, a retired cop, had been reposting memes mocking the intensity of Republican mourning over Kirk. To make his point, he posted a meme quoting President Trump saying that people should, quote, get over a school shooting. That's what got Bushart arrested.

A sheriff in another county said the meme could be seen as a threat against his local school, which happens to share the name of the school that Trump had been talking about. Bushhart says that makes no sense. Well, I knew I had threatened no one in the conversation wasn't even about their local school or community. And I thought, no, we were having a conversation about Charlie Kirk, his death and your desire to hold memorial services for him. Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems wouldn't talk about the arrest with NPR.

But last fall, he gave an interview to News Channel 5 in Nashville. He blamed Bushart for refusing to delete his Facebook post. We sent Lexington Police Department out to speak to him, and he refused to do that. I mean, what kind of person does that? What kind of person just says he don't care? You know, I'm not taking it down. Bushhart spent 37 days in jail over that Facebook post. He says he couldn't afford the bond to get out. Eventually, as negative publicity mounted, prosecutors dropped the charges, and now Bushhart is suing, one of at least 14 lawsuits by people around the country who say they were punished for things they said about the Kirk shooting. That's according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression or Fire, which is representing Bushart. David Rubin is one of the lawyers.

We forget, I think, sometimes that local government, officials have extraordinary power to do things like throw you in prison or yanking business permit. So anytime one of them thinks, I'm going to punish someone for their speech, it's a really big, huge problem. Complicating matters were the statements of officials higher up at the state and federal levels. Guest hosting Kirk's podcast, Vice President J.D. Vance invoked what he called civil society. It flows from all of us. So when you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out in hell, call their employer. Jessica Levinson is a professor at Loyola Law School in L.A., and she says the aftermath of

Charlie Kirk's death reminded her of the quote-unquote cancel culture around 2020. It's the same broad idea in the sense of we want people to feel an impact, feel a consequence for their statement. But this time, there are also some important differences. When you have an elected official, particularly one with a lot of power like the vice president, calling for people to be fired as a result of their comments, legally the question becomes whether or not that amounts to government coercion. In other words, whether employers feel coerced by the statements of the government officials. Sometimes, though, those statements can backfire. Last fall, an art

professor at the University of South Dakota faced termination because he'd called Kirk a, quote, hate-spreading Nazi. South Dakota Governor Larry Rodin endorsed his firing on X. and the professor's lawyer, Jim Leach, says that actually tipped the scales in his client's favor. The governor's statement made it completely clear. What I think was obvious anyway was that this was a straightforward attempt to punish this man for his lawful First Amendment protective speech. A federal court granted a temporary restraining order against his firing and the university dropped the matter. The professor is now back in his job. But other lawsuits are still in the works. Just last month, the American Federation of Teachers sued the Texas Education Agency for soliciting complaints against teachers for things they'd said or posted about Kirk, something the union calls retaliation.

The state agency collected more than 350 complaints and 95 are still under investigation, a process endorsed online by the governor, Greg Abbott. Martin Costi, NPR News. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR. Thank you.