42
People fired over Charlie Kirk posts get big payouts for First Amendment retaliation (www.npr.org)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/usa@midwest.social
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By the time Maria Ruhtenberg was fired from her job last September for posting about Charlie Kirk's assassination, few people even knew what she had written.

The posts and comments she had made on Facebook were only visible to her friends. Just one person, a Facebook friend she barely knew, complained to her employer. "I don't even know how we became Facebook friends, honestly," said Ruhtenberg.

Ruhtenberg then sued the state and Wright in federal court for First Amendment retaliation. In May, they settled and Ruhtenberg was awarded $125,000 in damages.

The Iowa public defender's office and Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

Nine months after Kirk's assassination, cases like Ruhtenberg's continue to be resolved in favor of people who suffered consequences for their social media activity about Kirk. While many of these plaintiffs have settled with six-figure payouts, they are still grappling, to different degrees, with the aftermath of their firings.

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113
People fired over Charlie Kirk posts get payouts for First Amendment retaliation (www.npr.org)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/politics@sh.itjust.works
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After the conservative activist was shot, Ruhtenberg wrote things like "live by the sword, die by the sword" and "you reap what you sow" and that she disagreed with Kirk's views about the Second Amendment. Ruhtenberg also said that "whoever shot [Kirk] should go to prison."

State public defender Jeff Wright testified during the appeals proceedings that Ruhtenberg was fired because her posts were perceived as condoning violence.

Ruhtenberg then sued the state and Wright in federal court for First Amendment retaliation. In May, they settled and Ruhtenberg was awarded $125,000 in damages.

The Iowa public defender's office and Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

1
Some who lost jobs over Charlie Kirk posts get big payouts for First Amendment retaliation (www.npr.org)
submitted 3 months ago by [B] to c/antiwork@lemmit.online
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The original was posted on /r/antiwork by /u/rajapaws on 2026-08-02 16:08:38+00:00.