“Memes for me, but not for thee.” That’s how we described California’s new law, AB 2655, to the Ninth Circuit in our recently-filed amicus brief supporting the Christian satire outlet, The Babylon Bee.

The law now under scrutiny is an attempt to crack down on realistic computer-generated or otherwise altered photos of California politicians—including all kinds of memes, parodies, and other speech protected by the First Amendment. Worse, AB 2655 allows social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok to decide which content gets deplatformed.

The Babylon Bee doesn’t trust California or Facebook to protect its satire, so it worked with our national partner Alliance Defending Freedom to sue California. The Bee won in federal district court, but California has appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

AB 2655 was sold to voters as a way of addressing online “deepfake” videos, but the law does nothing to prevent individuals from creating deepfake videos of one another. This law has only one function—protecting Californian politicians from unflattering social media posts. Meanwhile, Governor Newsom’s media team regularly posts deepfake photos of President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and other conservative politicians without consequence.

We teamed up with Dr. Jordan Dorney from New Saint Andrews College to write this brief supporting The Bee. Dr. Dorney is a distinguished historian—and he knows that history’s most infamous and petty tyrants have always tried to crack down on cartoons and caricatures to protect their own tyrannical governments and political machines.

Our brief presents the Ninth Circuit with the history of “nobly false” political speech, including cartoons, caricatures, and parodies. From Elijah mocking the prophets of Baal to King George censoring unflattering political cartoons to Dr. Seuss mocking politicians opposed to America’s entry into World War II, our brief chronicles the critical role of political commentary and satire in our free speech tradition. You can read our brief for yourself here.