Conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley has taken his anti-fraud crusade to California, but a recently passed law, coined by conservatives as the "Stop Nick Shirley Act," is threatening to derail him, or so he says. Now Shirley is challenging it in federal court.
Shirley outlined his argument in a recent YouTube video, claiming that the legislation is a blatant violation of the First Amendment created in response to him exposing fraud across California. In his suit, he also alleges that it discriminates based on the content and viewpoint of speech and is unconstitutionally "overbroad and vague."
Assembly Bill 2624, authored by state Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D–Oakland), wife of Attorney General Rob Bonta—a fact that Shirley is keen to point out—allows for immigration support services providers, employees, and volunteers who are "fearful for their safety or the safety of their family because of their affiliation with a designated immigration support services facility" to join California's Safe at Home Program. This program provides participants with a substitute mailing address that they can use for government records, keeping their school, work, and residential addresses confidential.
The legislation also prohibits online disclosures of personal information or images "with the specific intent" to either "incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm" or threaten an immigration support worker protected by the law or "a coresident of that person." Violators can face fines of at least $4,000, court orders restricting publication, and payment of plaintiffs' court costs and attorney's fees. A separate provision also criminalizes posts with the specific intent that another person imminently use it to commit a likely act or threat of violence.
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