The Babylon Bee v. Bonta

LOS ANGELES – Less than one month after Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging two California laws that censor online content, including political satire and parody, California officials agreed they cannot enforce one of those laws against The Babylon Bee and Kelly Chang Rickert, a California attorney and blogger, after a federal district court ruled that the law likely violates the First Amendment. The Babylon Bee and Rickert are now free to post their political content online during the current election season without fear of violating the law while the case continues.

ADF attorneys representing The Babylon Bee and Rickert filed the lawsuit after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the two laws, AB 2839 and AB 2655, that censor freedom of speech by using vague standards to punish people for posting certain political content online, including political memes and parodies of politicians. Because one of those laws, AB 2839, went into effect immediately, The Babylon Bee and Rickert—as well as a plaintiff in another case—asked the federal judges to immediately put that law on hold. That law applies around election time to censor digitally edited content that is “materially deceptive” and addresses candidates, elected officials, and other election material related to California elections. The law also forces speakers to include a disclaimer when posting satire and imposes severe penalties, allowing anyone who sees the content to sue and obtain attorneys’ fees, costs, and damages.

“California’s war against political memes is censorship, plain and simple. We shouldn’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates,” said ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategy and Center for Conscience Initiatives Jonathan Scruggs. “Gov. Newsom has no constitutional authority to act as the humor police. While lawmakers act as if posting and resharing memes is a threat to democracy, these laws censor speech California politicians don’t like. We are grateful that California’s unconstitutional law can no longer be applied to censor The Babylon Bee and Ms. Rickert while the case continues and that they are again free to exercise their First Amendment rights to poke fun at political leaders.”

“Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies,” said The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. “But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy. Unfortunately for them, the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes they don’t like.”

“My personal blog and social media accounts don’t need Governor Newsom’s stamp of approval,” added Rickert. “This attempt to silence humor and other content that appeals to me and my audience is a blatant misuse of power to silence dissent.”

In July, Newsom responded to a parody video of Vice President Kamala Harris by declaring that the video “should be illegal,” and the California Legislature responded by fast-tracking the bills, which the governor signed into law on Sept. 17.

In the motion asking to temporarily halt AB 2839, ADF attorneys explain that the law both compels speech with which The Bee and Rickert disagree and chills speech they wish to share. The motion explains that the language in the laws is too vague and gives California officials too much power to censor speech they disagree with. The California Legislature also recognized the constitutional problems of the laws and said that they were “almost guaranteed to be the subject of litigation.”

ADF attorneys filed The Babylon Bee v. Bonta with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the case was then transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. David Shaneyfelt of the Alvarez Firm and Brian R. Chavez-Ochoa of Chavez-Ochoa Law Offices, two of more than 4,800 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, have served as local counsel for The Babylon Bee and Rickert.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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