The Texas AFT, the state's teachers' union, filed a lawsuit over actions taken by the Texas Education Agency to discipline teachers over their social media posts following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

The union called the actions by the TEA a violation of teachers' rights and chilled their protected free speech.

"We didn't want to have to take this to court, but he should know by now, we will leave no rock unturned when it comes to protecting our members and their constitutional rights," said Zeph Capo, the President of Texas AFT.

The union issued a direct challenge to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath on Tuesday afternoon. Capo said the union will do what it takes to protect its members after the tea announced in September that they would be coming after the social media comments of teachers following the death of Charlie Kirk.

"So we're suing tea today for violating our members' First Amendment rights and targeting them for their protected speech," said Capo.

Texas AFT filed a lawsuit on behalf of its members, specifically more than 350, who have been targeted and punished with everything from written reprimands to suspensions to terminations for their comments about Kirk online.

"We don't need people like that educating our students. We need teachers who are going to focus on reading, writing, math, and science, not inciting violence against humans in the United States of America," said Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott addressed the lawsuit at a campaign stop in Fort Worth on Tuesday.

"Some of these educators the tea is pursuing action against they were inciting violence in their classroom in front of students," said Abbott. 

The AFT disagrees with the governor's statement.

"To be clear, we are not talking about an educator walking into their classrooms and sharing their thoughts on the assassination with their students. The educators under investigation commented on the controversial nature of Charlie Kirk's previous statements on their personal, private social media and outside of their official capacity," said Capo.

The AFT is keeping the teachers involved in this lawsuit anonymous, but has confirmed to CBS News Texas that it involves multiple teachers from North Texas.

We reached out to the TEA for comment, but they declined, saying they cannot comment on ongoing litigation