The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled the prayers of a Washington state high school football coach at the 50-yard line after games are protected free speech, and now a Tennessee teacher claims his expletive-laced social media posts on topics ranging from masking during the pandemic to former President Donald Trump are also protected.
A lawsuit filed by former Sullivan County teacher Jeremy McLaughlin – suspended for three days without pay over posts he made to social media while off duty – is set to become the first test case in Tennessee of the recent court decision that granted First Amendment speech protection to the prayers of Washington state high school football coach Joe Kennedy, court records show.
McLaughlin contends in his U.S. District Court lawsuit he became the target of a witch hunt by parents angered over his speech in support of virtual learning and pro-masking at a Sullivan County Board of Education meeting in August 2020.
After that meeting, at least four parents wrote letters to then-Sullivan County Schools chief David Cox and the school board, demanding McLaughlin be fired over posts McLaughlin made on Facebook in the months preceding his speech, according to documents reviewed by the Tennessee Lookout.
Cox suspended McLaughlin in September 2020 for three days without pay as a result, records show.