Why I am fighting the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ – Latest News
The “Stop Nick Shirley Act” is a blatantly unconstitutional law that violates the freedom of the press.
That’s why I am asking the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice to intervene to dam its implementation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the controversial invoice, AB 2624, into law regardless of realizing that there have been critical objections to its violations of the First Amendment.
Nick Shirley testifies during a House Judiciary subcommittee listening to on public funds abuse on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP) AP
Proponents say it protects immigrants by shielding nonprofits that serve immigrants communities from supposed harassment.
What AB 2624 actually does is protect these organizations from scrutiny, regardless of the proven fact that many of them obtain public money.
Specifically, Section 6218.19 of the laws says:
“(b)(1) A program participant, or an particular person, entity, or group approved to behave on their behalf, might make a written demand to a individual, business, or affiliation to not publicly post or publicly show, disclose, or distribute on the Internet the personal info or image of the program participant. …
“(b)(4) A program participant whose personal information or image is made public as a result of a failure to honor a demand made pursuant to paragraph (1), or any individual, entity, or organization authorized to act on their behalf, may bring an action seeking injunctive or declarative relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. If a jury or court finds that a violation has occurred, it may grant injunctive or declarative relief and shall award the successful plaintiff court costs and reasonable attorneys fees.”
Independent journalist Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable dialogue in the State Dining Room of the White House on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, in Washington, DC. The Trump administration held the roundtable to debate the anti-fascist Antifa motion after signing an govt order designating it as a “domestic terrorist organization.” (Getty Images North America) Getty Images
Even after we raised initial issues about assaults on free speech and journalists, the Democrats doubled down on attacking the First Amendment by amending the invoice to take away exemptions for journalists beneath the California Shield Law.
Here’s how AB 2624 will play out in actual life. An investigative journalist like Nick Shirley will get video of a phony day care middle defrauding taxpayers, however the scammer working the middle arms him a observe demanding the video not be shared publicly. If the journalist posts it, he has violated state law and is subject to pricey court docket orders and fines.
That’s why when the invoice was first launched, I nicknamed it the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”
Shirley drew consideration to the downside of fraud amongst Minnesota nonprofit teams, and he got here to California to analyze additional.
That’s when Democrats determined to stop him.
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Instead of fixing rampant waste, fraud, and abuse, Newsom and his get together try to punish the people exposing it. In so doing, they’re blatantly violating our First Amendment freedom of speech rights.
Last week, I known as on the governor to veto the invoice, however now that he signed it into law in a hurry, I will proceed to struggle it utilizing the legal system.
As a first step, I will ask the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to review the law and intervene towards it in the courts. The division, beneath California’s own Harmeet Dhillon, is at the moment difficult a quantity of California state legal guidelines and insurance policies in court docket for violating constitutional rights.
If the DOJ can’t set up standing, then we should wait till AB 2624 is weaponized towards a journalist after which wage a prolonged (and costly) court docket battle to overturn AB 2624 and restore our First Amendment rights.
The reality is that Newsom and California Democrats have a unhealthy report of repeatedly imposing unconstitutional legal guidelines, solely to be stopped by the US DOJ and the courts. Of course, the injury is already achieved — as a result of whereas we struggle in court docket, our constitutional rights are being infringed upon.
Newsom and his get together know the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” is unconstitutional, however they’re attempting to gradual down investigations into the huge fraud issues they’ve allowed in state and native authorities applications.
It is obvious that they’re attempting to cover the true extent of the fraud issues we now have in California — and how they benefit politically, from not solely the fraud however the far-left teams that pushed for the Stop Nick Shirley Act to be handed.
Carl DeMaio is a member of the California Assembly and chairman of Reform California.
