Washington D.C. — On Friday, August 29, The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) secured a major First Amendment victory when a federal court permanently enjoined with respect to Christopher Kohls and other plaintiffs a California law that barred the sharing of political satire created with AI technology.
HLLI, representing Kohls, also known as the popular YouTuber “Mr Reagan,” had already won a preliminary injunction blocking two laws that threatened to restrict AI-generated political satire last year. With this latest ruling, the court confirmed for a second time that California’s attempt to censor political humor and commentary violated the Constitution.
In September 2024, California passed two related laws—AB 2839 (Protecting Democracy Against Election Disinformation and Deepfakes Act) and AB 2655 (Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act)—as part of a legislative package targeting AI-generated political speech. Together, the laws would have punished content creators for speech the state labeled “deceptive” and forced them to put oversized disclaimers across their satire.
HLLI was the first to challenge the laws, filing suit in September 2024 within an hour of Gov. Gavin Newsom signing the bills—and was later joined by suits from the Babylon Bee, Rumble, and X.
Last week, the court rejected AB 2839, noting that forcing content creators to plaster disclaimers across their videos would, “[p]ut simply,…kill the joke.”
The constitutional principles underpinning the court’s decision are simple. Political speech lies at the heart of the First Amendment, and any efforts to restrict it must come as a last resort and with a light touch. But California immediately “jump[ed] to complete censorship” without considering the availability of “encouraging counter speech, rigorous fact-checking, and the uninhibited flow of democratic discourse.”
HLLI Senior Attorney Adam Schulman stated, “HLLI is proud to defend free speech and pleased that, for the second time, the court got it exactly right. California can use public information campaigns or its own speech to wage its crusade against political misinformation. But it can’t tape shut the mouths of internet commentators, nor force political humorists to paste the state’s disclaimer on the top of their jokes.”
HLLI previously reached a legal agreement in which California officials agreed not to enforce AB 2655, the other law at issue in the case that compels social media companies to remove certain political speech, against any platforms or websites covered by it.
The name of the case is Kohls v. Bonta, 24-cv-2527 (E.D. Cal.).
For more information about this case, please see our our complaint, our case webpage, or contact the attorney below:
Adam Schulman, Senior Attorney
(610) 457-0856, adam.schulman@hlli.org
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Every day, there are attempts to encroach upon Americans’ constitutionally protected rights. Our legal work is dedicated to countering these efforts.
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