A federal judge just let Iowa's licensing board keep investigating two teachers who celebrated Charlie Kirk's assassination on Facebook.
The teachers sued to make the investigation stop – claiming their First Amendment rights were being violated.
The judge said no. And what she wrote in that ruling should have every parent in Iowa furious.
Iowa Teachers' Charlie Kirk Facebook Posts That Triggered the Investigation
Jennifer Smith, a Johnston Community School District teacher, logged onto Facebook the day after Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University and typed: "RIP you monster. I'm so sure your god is fine with the awful spread of hate you completed while here on earth."
She deleted it when her employer called – but not before a school board member had already seen it and filed a complaint.
Katherine Mejia, a school counselor in the West Delaware Community School District, reposted commentary that read "KIRK IS NEITHER A MARTYR NOR A HERO. HE IS A CAUSE!" – while on district-approved leave.
Both women then sued the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, claiming the licensing board had no business investigating them at all.
Federal Judge Refuses to Block Iowa Teacher License Investigation
Chief Judge Stephanie Rose denied the request.
She applied a legal doctrine that bars federal courts from interfering in ongoing state licensing proceedings – meaning Mejia and Smith have to fight their constitutional arguments inside Iowa's own process before a federal court can step in.
That was the ruling. But what Rose wrote around it is where this gets interesting.
She noted that Iowa's governor and legislative leaders had publicly demanded termination of any educator who criticized Kirk, and that the board's executive director, Michael Cavin, sent a letter to superintendents across the state explicitly encouraging them to file complaints – identifying the precise ethical rule to cite.
"The timing, the statewide reach, and the viewpoint-specific framing of the letter present a picture that is, at minimum, deeply troubling," Rose wrote – while letting the investigation proceed anyway.
She was clear her ruling did not decide whether the board violated the First Amendment. That question, she said, is for Iowa's state courts first.
Iowa Bill Would Revoke Teacher Licenses Over Charlie Kirk Posts
The teachers aren't the story. The accountability machinery Iowa Republicans built – and are now expanding – is the story.
House Study Bill 682, which cleared the Iowa House Education Committee this month with 14 Republican votes, would require the state licensing board to revoke or deny an educator's license for "publicly celebrating any act of politically motivated violence" – naming Kirk's killing specifically, and applying retroactively to September 10, 2025.
A single screenshot would be enough to trigger proceedings.
Iowa Republicans are drawing a line: teachers entrusted with children cannot use their platforms to normalize celebrating the murder of a conservative activist. That is a reasonable line.
Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, put the underlying principle plainly when Clemson faculty were fired over similar posts: "Not every a—— is entitled to a government job in an educational institution."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott framed it the same way – states must send a clear signal that celebrating the assassination of a free speech advocate is incompatible with public employment.
Across Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, and South Dakota, governors and education commissioners made the same call. More than three dozen educators have been removed nationwide since Kirk's death last September.
Smith called Kirk a monster. Mejia called him a cause. Now they're learning what teachers from Maine to California have already learned: the First Amendment stops the government from jailing you for your words. It does not require taxpayers to keep funding your classroom.
The investigation proceeds. The bill advances. And Iowa parents are watching.
Sources:
- Bradford Betz, "Judge declines to halt probe into Iowa teachers' posts after Charlie Kirk's assassination," Fox News, February 26, 2026.
- Iowa Capital Dispatch, "Judge calls state response to comments about Charlie Kirk 'deeply troubling,'" February 25, 2026.
- Iowa Capital Dispatch, "Bill would allow denial of educator licenses over posts 'celebrating' Kirk death," February 11, 2026.
- The Gazette, "Iowa House advances Charlie Kirk bill targeting educators' speech on political violence," February 12, 2026.
- Daily Signal, "Exposing Antifa with Harmeet Dhillon," September 24, 2025.
- Fox 5 DC, "Employees of private companies learning limits of free speech after posting about Charlie Kirk," September 16, 2025.