Larry Bushart, FIRE plaintiff who was jailed for 37 days earlier this year over a Facebook meme. (Photo provided by FIRE. Photo credit: LadyJay Creations LLC.)

On Wednesday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee on behalf of Larry Bushart, who was jailed for 37 days after posting a meme on Facebook.

Bushart was arrested in September by the Perry County Sheriff’s Department for posting a meme about President Donald Trump on the day of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and he was charged with threatening mass violence at a school. After his bail was set at $2 million, Bushart sat in jail for 37 days until charges were abruptly dropped by prosecutors.

The meme, captioned “This seems relevant today…,” cites Trump telling people in January 2024 “we have to get over it” after a 17-year-old killed two people and injured six others at a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa before killing himself.

Screenshot of the meme Larry Bushart posted on Facebook (Photo provided by FIRE)

 

FIRE staff attorney Cary Davis told Heartland Signal that the meme Bushart posted was squarely protected political speech under the First Amendment.

“For a statement to qualify under clearly established Supreme Court precedent as an unprotected threat, the speaker has to communicate a serious intent to commit an act of unlawful violence,” Davis said. “And here, Larry had no such intent. He did not intend to threaten anyone or any place.”  

The arrest was ordered by Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems, who is also a defendant in the lawsuit alongside Perry County itself. While Bushart was still in jail, Weems told Nashville’s News Channel 5 that he had no choice but to arrest Bushart because he supposedly stoked fear in the community. No evidence was produced by the Perry County Sheriff’s Department, and a report from The Intercept noted there were no public signs of hysteria. Weems also admitted that he previously knew of the meme’s existence and did not believe it contained threatening words.

The lawsuit from Bushart and the civil liberties non-profit also seeks monetary damages and attorneys’ fees for the incident, which Davis says violated Bushart’s First and Fourth Amendment Rights.

“We also want to put law enforcement everywhere on notice that there are consequences to violating peoples’ constitutional rights,” Davis said. “Under the First Amendment, Larry’s meme was squarely protected political speech.”

Both the Perry County government and Weems did not respond to a request to comment for this story.

Bushart’s case is one of numerous examples of potential free speech violations piling up in Trump’s second term in office.

“I would just say that whether you agree or disagree with Larry’s view, this case involving a sheriff hauling someone to jail in the middle of the night for a political meme should alarm everyone regardless of their politics,” Davis said.