Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case on Teacher’s Anti-Transgender TikTok Posts
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to address a First Amendment case involving Massachusetts teachers who created and shared anti-transgender TikTok videos. Kari McRae, a former teacher from Hanover Public Schools, argued that the TikTok content was made prior to her employment and sought judicial support to uphold free speech rights for public employees.
One of the TikTok posts criticized Rachel Levine, a prominent transgender figure in the Biden administration. Another post included a message about racial identity: “Hey, racism is stupid. I’m black, white, Asian. But everyone loves me.”
In a separate post, McRae noted the confusion of her parents, expressing a somewhat disjointed thought: “You have to be able to explain birds and bees. Bees and bees… Birds and birds are birds that were once honeybees.”
While no justices publicly opposed the decision to separate McRae’s appeal, Judge Clarence Thomas issued a seven-page statement outlining “serious concerns” regarding how lower courts have dealt with dissenting teachers. He stressed that it compromises First Amendment values to allow government employers to adopt a singular viewpoint on social issues and then label dissent as confusion.
Thomas pointed out that this problem intensifies for individuals like McRae who express their views either prior to or outside of their teaching roles. He agreed with the court’s decision to dismiss McRae’s petition for now but hinted at a potential future lawsuit aimed at clarifying the limits public employers face when targeting employees for expressing unpopular political opinions.
Following her termination, McRae attempted to run for the Massachusetts Senate in 2022 and 2024 but was unsuccessful. She is planning to enter the race again next year.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog organization, represented McRae in the case. They stated that the lawsuit serves as a vital mechanism for defining the rights of many aspiring public school teachers and the four million educators who may have spoken out on public issues before securing employment.
The school district maintained that the decision not to pursue an appeal aligns with Supreme Court precedents regarding public school teachers’ free speech rights. They asserted that the TikTok posts contradicted the district’s core values and mission, as upheld by both the district court and the First Circuit. This ruling follows a recent Supreme Court decision prohibiting the district from wearing a T-shirt and blocking a class promoting the notion of “only two genders.”
