Nick Shirley sues California to stop same-name law targeting his undercover video reporting
WASHINGTON — Fraud muckraker Nick Shirley slapped a lawsuit against California’s attorney general and secretary of state Friday in a bid to stop it from implementing a law named after him that would allow pro-immigration groups to shield their information from public records.California Gov.Gavin Newsom (D) signed AB 2624, also known as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” into law last month, seeking to undermine the tactics used by the breakout YouTube journalist and others like him to expose rampant fraud in Minnesota and elsewhere.
“Nick Shirley is an American patriot,” Gene Hamilton, president of America First Legal, which is suing California on Shirley’s behalf.“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,” Hamilton added.“This will not stand.”The law specifically restricts people and businesses from knowingly publicly posting the “personal information” of people involved in “designated immigration support services.” It also allows those people to seek civil relief against individuals who violate that rule.
The “Stop Nick Shirley Act” doesn’t become operative until Oct.7, 2027, but America First Legal argued it is still causing him harm and chilling his free speech rights by casting a cloud of uncertainty over what he can say due to its broad and vague language.Personal information covered in the law includes phone numbers, employment history, financial data, home addresses and more.
It can apply to nonprofit groups, legal firms, health care facilities, and other organizations that help immigrants.Shirley’s suit accuses California of undermining the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the Constitution, restricting the government from enacting retroactive criminal laws.The suit drew att...