“A written demand is all it takes to stop the publishing of a video in California,” Nick Shirley said in a video he posted on X. He was talking about a new state law, and on Sept. 4 he sued over it.
Shirley, an independent journalist who describes his work as exposing fraud, filed the federal complaint against California Attorney General Robert Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber. America First Legal is backing him. The suit asks a court to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions that would stop the state and anyone tied to it from enforcing Assembly Bill 2624.
Critics have nicknamed the measure the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.” It adds immigration support service providers to Safe at Home, California’s confidential address program, which already covers domestic violence victims and abortion and transgender treatment providers, among others. Enrolled workers can list a confidential address in public records. After a written request, publishing identifying details such as their addresses or images becomes illegal. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill on Aug. 22. It takes effect Oct. 1, 2027.
What the lawsuit argues
The complaint says the law violates the First and 14th Amendments. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to silence truthful reporting because it is controversial, inconvenient, or politically disfavored,” it states. It describes the law as imposing civil liability on anyone who publishes such information, which it says puts a “target on all the investigative reporting Mr. Shirley conducts.”
It also calls the law politically discriminatory. Protections go to groups that provide immigration support services, the suit says, while organizations and people who favor stricter immigration enforcement get nothing comparable. Shirley, it adds, faces a “credible and objectively reasonable threat” of enforcement and a “chilling effect on his protected speech.”
In his video, Shirley asked why these providers have what he called “protected class” status in California, and alleged that some were used to “commit fraud” in the state. He said a video that runs afoul of the law could cost its poster a $4,000 fine.
The timeline and the state’s defense
Shirley posted a video on X on Feb. 16 in which he looked into possible voter fraud in California. A few days later, on Feb. 20, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, the attorney general’s wife, introduced AB 2624. President Donald Trump had announced in January that his administration’s fraud crackdown would extend to California, after investigations in Minnesota that Shirley helped drive.
Mia Bonta defended the bill in an Aug. 22 statement. She said it was introduced as threats against people who work in immigration services in the state were escalating. “AB 2624 is fundamentally about freedom: the freedom from fear that lets our immigrant service providers do their jobs, and the freedom of the press to do their jobs without ever being conflated with the doxxing this bill actually targets,” she said.
The Epoch Times asked the offices of Bonta and Weber for comment and had received no reply by publication time.
Sources
- Nick Shirley sues California over law critics call the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’
- Nick Shirley Sues California Over Law Dubbed ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ by Opponents | California Insider
