Investigative journalist Nick Shirley has filed a lawsuit against California for its law targeting First Amendment protections. The law, named after Shirley, stands as an affront to “truthful reporting,” the complaint reads.
“The law imposes civil liability for publishing, disclosing, or trading certain personal information concerning providers of immigration-related services even when that information is lawfully obtained and published as part of reporting on matters of public concern,” it says. “In practical terms, the law places a target on all the investigative reporting Mr. Shirley conducts.”
America First Legal filed the lawsuit in partnership with John W. Howard of JW Howard Attorneys. It argues that the law violates the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.
“He contends that the law imposes content-based and viewpoint discriminatory restrictions on speech and is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, and constitutes an ex post facto law, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution,” the filing adds. “Mr. Shirley seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.”
“Nick Shirley is an American patriot. He has been exposing fraud that too many people have tolerated or facilitated for decades. California was so threatened by that work that the Attorney General’s own wife introduced a bill to silence Mr. Shirley, in violation of the First Amendment,” said America First Legal President Gene Hamilton. “Governor Gavin Newsom gladly signed it. This will not stand. America First Legal is proud to stand with Nick.”
Sharing the news of the lawsuit on X, Shirley said, “It’s time for ‘we the people’ to actually do something.”
Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” last month. The law, AB 2624, creates an “address confidentiality program for a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, as defined, who faces threats of violence or harassment from the public because of their affiliation with a designated immigration support services facility.” It further blocks an individual from “posting on the internet the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, or other individuals residing at the same home address, with the specific intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence that is likely to occur against such an individual.”
