<p>HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a high school teacher in West Virginia who was fired in 2017 for a series of social media posts that ridiculed Black people, Muslims and former President Barack Obama.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers ruled that the Cabell County school system did not violate the woman’s First Amendment rights, <a href="https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/judge-rules-teacher-s-firing-over-social-media-posts-was-not-violation-of-free-speech/article_838a6611-662b-5ecd-a4ca-dd9bd3d54583.html">The Herald-Dispatch</a> reported.</p>
<p>Former Huntington High School teacher Mary Durstein argued that a law requiring teachers to have a professional relationship with students even outside the classroom and allowing the superintendent to revoke or suspend a teaching certificate for “immorality” was an overly broad and unconstitutional restriction of her free speech rights.</p>
<p>The judge ruled Monday that Durstein failed to show that the law targets freedom of expression.</p>
<p>“We welcome this ruling as a reaffirmation that those who apparently hold biased views of others —while having the right to express even those bigoted views — should not be teaching our nation’s children,” Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Tuesday.</p>
