The Babylon Bee v. Bonta
Description: The Babylon Bee, a satire website, and a California attorney are suing the state of California after it passed two laws that censor online content, including political satire and parody.
ADF asks court to immediately halt enforcement of California law censoring political memes
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Vice President of Litigation Strategy and Center for Conscience Initiatives Jonathan Scruggs regarding a motion ADF attorneys filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in The Babylon Bee v. Bonta. ADF attorneys representing satire website The Babylon Bee and California attorney Kelly Chang Rickert are asking the court to immediately halt enforcement of a California law that unconstitutionally compels speech and restricts political memes and satire while the lawsuit continues. The law recently went into effect, threatening online political speech throughout California during election season:
“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. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed two laws punishing political speech, with one law taking effect immediately, just as the election season heated up—a time when we need more speech, not less. That includes political parody and satire, a type of expression that has been used throughout our nation’s history. While lawmakers act as if posting and sharing memes is a threat to democracy, these laws target speech California officials don’t like. We are urging the court to immediately halt enforcement of the law in effect now and to affirm the right of The Babylon Bee and Ms. Rickert to speak freely about political matters online.”
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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ABOUT Jonathan Scruggs
Jonathan Scruggs serves as senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he identifies new litigation opportunities and develops new strategies for protecting free speech and religious liberty in collaboration with the chief legal counsel and litigation team directors. As the leader for the Center for Conscience Initiatives, Scruggs oversees the litigation team defending the rights of professionals and business owners to live out their faith as well as the litigation efforts to protect equal opportunities for women in athletics. Since joining ADF in 2006, Scruggs has worked on and prevailed in a variety of cases that protect the right of people to freely express their faith in their business, at school, and in the public square. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona and Tennessee. Scruggs is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.