Investigative journalist Nick Shirley has taken California to federal court over a new law critics have dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.” The lawsuit argues that Assembly Bill 2624 threatens journalists with civil liability for publishing truthful, lawfully obtained information about individuals associated with organizations providing immigration-related services. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure into law on August 22nd following months of public clashes between Shirley and California officials.
The federal complaint was filed Friday in the Eastern District of California against Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber in their official capacities. America First Legal filed the case on Shirley’s behalf in partnership with attorneys from JW Howard Attorneys. Newsom is not personally named as a defendant, but the challenge targets the law he approved.
AB 2624 establishes an address-confidentiality program for qualifying immigration support service providers, employees, and volunteers beginning October 1st, 2027. Covered services include legal assistance, advocacy, humanitarian relief, case management, translation, counseling, and health care. Participants may use a state-designated substitute address in public records after documenting employment or volunteer work and a threat, harassment, or violence connected to that affiliation.
As Courthouse News Service reported, the law also regulates the online publication of personal information or images involving protected immigration-support workers. The statutory language requires specific intent either to incite imminent great bodily harm or to threaten a protected person in a manner that places that person in objectively reasonable fear for personal safety. It nevertheless creates written-demand procedures, civil actions, attorney-fee awards, and damages of at least $4,000 in some cases.
The legal fight follows Shirley’s investigations into alleged fraud involving government-funded programs in Minnesota and California. He announced his arrival in California on January 31st, after which Newsom said members of San Diego’s Somali community felt “under siege” following the arrival of “right-wing provocateurs.” Rob Bonta publicly denounced California fraud allegations on February 5th, and Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, the attorney general’s wife, introduced AB 2624 on February 20th.
Shirley’s complaint alleges that the sequence was no coincidence and that the state singled out reporting concerning one side of the immigration debate. His attorneys argue that AB 2624 is content-based, viewpoint-discriminatory, overbroad, and unconstitutionally vague. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to silence truthful reporting,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit says Shirley intends to continue examining the funding, government contracts, political advocacy, and legal compliance of immigration-service organizations. His investigations rely on on-camera interviews, public records, contracts, and information already available online. The complaint claims that the threat of future lawsuits has already caused him to refrain from reporting he otherwise would pursue, despite the law’s 2027 operative date.
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Mia Bonta has maintained that the measure targets threats and doxxing rather than legitimate journalism. Applicants must document recent threats, harassment, or violence, while the restrictions on publication include intent requirements connected to threats or imminent harm. Rob Bonta’s office told Courthouse News that it was aware of Shirley’s lawsuit and would respond in court.
America First Legal is asking the court to declare AB 2624 unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to Shirley and to block California from enforcing it. “California was so threatened by that work that the Attorney General’s own wife introduced a bill to silence Mr. Shirley,” AFL President Gene Hamilton said in the organization’s announcement. Shirley put the dispute even more plainly: “Why create new laws that restrict the freedom of speech if you have nothing to hide?”
Watch Shirley shut down a woke reporter here:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons