TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - A former Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission scientist is bringing a lawsuit here in Tallahassee at the federal courthouse, alleging that the state government violated her rights when it fired her over protected speech.
According to the lawsuit, Plaintiff Brittney Brown reposted an Instagram post from a meme account that said Charlie Kirk did not care about students being shot in classrooms.
Aaron Terr, the director of public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression [FIRE], said the former FWC scientist has a strong case.
“This was pure political speech, the type of speech that receives the highest protection under the First Amendment. And now some might find the wording of it distasteful or offensive, but that alone isn’t nearly enough to justify a punishment of a public employee,” Terr said.
More Tallahassee news:
A FWC spokesperson declined to comment, saying they had not yet been served with the lawsuit. The same weekend of the repost, the “MyFWC” account on X posted this: “We’ve been made aware of an FWC employee’s recent social media post and we do not condone nor tolerate this type of hateful sentiment. We’re actively working towards a swift and immediate resolution regarding this individual’s employment.”
According to the lawsuit, the original post is from a meme account that pretends to speak for whales. The repost was posted on Brown’s private Instagram story.
The post read: “The whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all.”
Terr said the post was amplified by a prominent right-wing account called the “Libs of TikTok,” after they screenshotted Brown’s repost. FWC then made its post and fired Brown.
“Your tax dollars pay her salary,” the Libs of TikTok account wrote. “She should be fired ASAP.”
Terr said it’s wrong for the government to punish someone for protected speech. And, while a private employer likely could’ve fired her for the repost, a government employer is different.
“Private employers aren’t bound by the First Amendment, so they generally can fire employees for the things they say even off the clock,” he said. “But the more serious issue is when the government fires an employee for their personal speech off the clock because the government is bound by the First Amendment and Americans don’t give up their First Amendment rights just because they work for the government.”
Lawyers for Brown haven’t yet responded to our request for comment. Their complaint is just getting started in federal court, and FWC has not yet filed its own response.
The complaint asks for injunctive relief against the state and includes three counts of violating the First Amendment.
See the document below for the full lawsuit.
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[SRC] https://www.wctv.tv/2025/10/02/former-fwc-scientist-sues-tallahassee-after-repost-about-death-charlie-kirk/
