A biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has filed a federal lawsuit after being fired for sharing a social media post following the assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk.
WATCH BELOW: 'Her case is very clearly unconstitutional,' Carrie McNamara says
The 37-page federal complaint claims the decorated biologist was wrongly terminated for a post on her private Instagram story and asks for her to be reinstated.
"Her case is very clearly unconstitutional," said Carrie McNamara, one of the biologist's attorneys.
The post on Brittney Brown's Instagram story was a message shared from a satirical account regarding Kirk's assassination.
The post shared to Brown's Instagram story 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."
Days after Brown's post, it was screenshotted and shared publicly by another account that called for her termination, describing it as a "disgusting message mocking Charlie's assassination."
FWC fired Brown less than 24 hours later, posting a statement that said in part:
"We have a zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence... FWC leadership took swift action terminating the individual."
"She was completely shocked. None of this has anything to do with her job," McNamara stated, explaining that FWC, as a state government agency, violated Brown's constitutional rights. "The free speech clause prevents the government from interfering with and making laws and regulating the speech of individuals. Ms. Brown's situation, they are speaking clearly on their own behalf about important political concerns of the day, and that is the situation where the First Amendment prevents the government from interfering."
McNamara believes others in similar situations will soon be filing their own lawsuits, following Brown’s lead to fight for their rights.
"I hope that it inspires more people to do so," McNamara said. “We are confident that the law is on her side, that it is clearly on her side.”
Brown's attorney is sending this complaint to the FWC this week.
WPTV reached out to FWC for a comment, but they have not yet responded.
