Judicial Watch: Federal Hearing in Civil Rights Lawsuit for High School Teacher Fired for Preemployment Social Media Posts

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a court hearing will be held before Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in the civil rights lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch on behalf of Kari MacRae, a Massachusetts high school teacher who was fired in retaliation for posts on social media that predated her employment at Hanover High School (MacRae vs. Matthew Mattos and Matthew A. Ferron (No. 1:21-cv-11917).

The hearing will be held:

Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Time: 3 p.m. ET

Location: Courtroom 11 (5th floor)

John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse

1 Courthouse Way, Suite 2300

Boston, MA 02210

(Judicial Watch’s court filing laying out the First Amendment retaliation issues and evidence uncovered through several months of discovery, including deposition testimony, is available here.)

MacRae, who was hired as a Hanover High School teacher on August 31, 2021, was fired over several TikTok posts that were made months prior to her hiring at the school. MacRae, who in May of 2021 was elected to the Bourne School Committee, made the posts in her personal capacity as a citizen and candidate for public office.

“The evidence is that Kari MacRae was fired in retaliation for exercising her First Amendment right to speak on issues of public concern, like critical race theory and transgenderism in schools,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “She deserves her day in court and the chance to make her case before a federal jury.”

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