(WWJ) A former Walled Lake High School teacher has filed a federal lawsuit over his firing last year over his political posts on social media.
Justin Kucera, who also coached sports at the school, got into hot water last July when he tweeted his support for then-President Donald Trump, and also that "Liberals suck man."
Kucera was offered his job back if he would apologize and promise to do better, but Kurcera claims the discipline is a violation of his first amendment rights.
Kucera is seeking damages for lost income and emotional distress.
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The lawsuit reads, in part:
"Plaintiff Justin Kucera is a dedicated public school social studies teacher and basketball and baseball coach who formerly taught at Walled Lake Consolidated Schools in Walled Lake, Michigan. While employed at Walled Lake, Plaintiff strove to uphold the District’s mission to educate young people and prepare them for the world.
"Plaintiff is also a political conservative, republican, and supporter of former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election. In July 2020, Plaintiff posted a series of political messages on his personal twitter account, including that 'Donald Trump is my president,' that schools should reopen in the fall, and that political liberals were attempting to divide us and 'suck.'
"Even though many strongly disagree with these opinions, they are all political speech protected from government intrusion under the U.S. and Michigan constitutions.
"However, as a result of this protected speech, Defendants unlawfully and illegally retaliated against Plaintiff and denied him equal protection under the law. Due to his tweets — and his tweets alone — Plaintiff was summarily terminated from his position with the District. Defendants made the decision to terminate Plaintiff for such speech even though many other teachers had participated in the long and proud history of educators being involved in politics and political activism outside of the classroom."
READ MORE: VIEW A COPY OF THE LAWSUIT
His Kucera's attorney would not disclose the amount of money he's asking for, and told WWJ Newsradio 950 that that neither he nor Kucera will be speaking to the media about the case.
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