Nick Shirley Sues California Over the 'Stop Nick Shirley Act'

“I’m officially suing the state of California.”

That is how Nick Shirley announced his federal challenge to the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act,’ the California law he says threatens independent journalists and regular people's ability to investigate organizations that receive taxpayer money.

Nick says he filed the lawsuit for a simple reason: California should have more transparency, not less.

“Why would they create a law that pushes for less transparency when all we want is more transparency?” Nick asked.

The Stop Nick Shirley Act gives new protections to certain immigration-support-services providers, employees, and volunteers. It allows people to make written demands and file lawsuits if their personal information or images are posted online. This can include names, work history, financial details, photos, and videos. If a claim is successful, it can result in court orders, attorneys’ fees, and sometimes damages of at least $4,000.

Nick is especially worried about how the written-demand process could impact his work. In the video, he talks about filming a hospice during a fraud investigation. If someone from the facility gives him a written demand not to publish the footage, he says the risk of being sued could stop a journalist from publishing before a judge even decides if the reporting is protected.

He also notes that the law covers nonprofit offices and health care facilities. These are the same types of organizations he has investigated while following taxpayer money in California’s daycare and hospice systems. Nick believes the state has created a protected class around institutions that should face more public scrutiny, not less.

He emphasized that the issue of fraud is not about politics. For him, it is about making sure the public can see how tax dollars are spent and hold people who receive that money accountable.

Nick also said this lawsuit is not about personal gain. He is not asking for damages from the court. He knows the case could take months or years, but he believes that if the law goes unchallenged, it will make future investigations harder and give Californians fewer ways to find out what is happening in their communities.

America First Legal filed the lawsuit for Nick Shirley today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The case lists California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber as defendants in their official roles.

America First Legal highlights his work on Minnesota daycare fraud, his reports on alleged fraud in California hospices and daycares, and his investigation into California’s migrant crisis. The group says his reporting helped shut down or end taxpayer-funded businesses and programs accused of fraud. They also shared a timeline of events encompassing the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act.’

On January 31, 2026, Nick announced that he had arrived in the state. Two days later, Governor Gavin Newsom said that San Diego’s Somali community felt “under siege” after what he described as “right-wing provocateurs” started showing up at Somali-run daycares.

On February 5, Attorney General Rob Bonta called the California fraud allegations “reckless,” “false,” “outrageous,” and “ridiculous.” Nick kept reporting and released a 23-minute video about fraud in California on February 16. Newsom’s press office criticized the report within hours and responded to Nick again the next day.

On February 20, only twenty days after Nick arrived, Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, who is married to the attorney general, introduced AB 2624. This bill is now widely known as the Stop Nick Shirley Act.

Governor Newsom signed it into law on August 22.

Even though the law will not take effect until October 1, 2027, the complaint says it is already affecting Nick. The filing claims he has held back from pursuing and publishing investigations that would otherwise be legal because he fears the law could be used against his current or future work.

The lawsuit asks the court to stop the Stop Nick Shirley Act from being enforced against Nick or anyone else. The complaint says the law limits speech based on content and viewpoint, covers too much protected speech, and is too vague for journalists and citizens to know what is not allowed. It also claims the law could punish people for older material that stays online after the law takes effect.

“Nick Shirley is an American patriot,” AFL President Gene Hamilton said. “This will not stand.”

The 22-page complaint asks the court to declare that the challenged parts of the law violate the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Constitution’s ban on ex post facto laws. It also asks for temporary and permanent orders to block the law and requests attorneys’ fees and court costs allowed under federal civil rights law.

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