The Babylon Bee, fresh off speech war victory over Hawaii, now suing New Mexico

By Bob Unruh

The Babylon Bee, that epitome of satirical political commentary, is fresh off its court victory over Hawaii, where officials tried to regulate and censor political satire and parody, and now is taking on the same agenda in New Mexico.

The organization defeated Hawaii’s censorship scheme in court earlier, reaching a settlement when the state decided against pursuing its politics that violated the First Amendment any further. The state agreed to pay some $118,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Now the publication has set its sights on New Mexico, which is insisting on making it illegal “to use AI to create satire of political candidates or issues” “WITHOUT A STATE-MANDATED WARNING LABEL.”

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“The ban applies year-round, covers everything from flyers to social media posts to memes, and threatens steep penalties, including fines up to $20,000,” according to lawyers with the ADF, who worked on the Hawaii case and now are handling the allegations against New Mexico.

The legal action points out that the new state law, HB 182, “empowers state officials to punish core political speech, including criticism of political candidates and proposed ballot measures.”

But that violates the speech rights of online satire website The Babylon Bee.

Further, in cuts into the very reason for the First Amendment, “to ensure wide-open political debate.”

“New Mexico is censoring political speech it dislikes. We should not trust the government to decide what is true in our political debates,” said ADF lawyer Logan Spena. “The Babylon Bee is seeking to uphold its fundamental right to speak freely and ensure that our political system remains one of self-government. We’re proud to have successfully represented the Bee in two other cases challenging state censorship, and we’ll strive for a similar outcome in New Mexico.”

Dillon, the CEO of the Bee, said, “The First Amendment protects our right to create AI satire poking fun at political candidates. We’ll never stop fighting to defend that freedom.”

A report at Not the Bee said a state official claimed the lawsuit was “baseless” as officials never took any action to enforce its law.

Dillon told Fox News, “If a joke we want to tell is likely to violate the law, we’ll tell it, anyway — both because we have a right to, and we refuse to do the tyrant’s work for him. If penalties are imposed, we’ll sue to defend our rights. In this case, we’re suing preemptively to settle the matter before it escalates to that point.”

The Bee’s pointed comments continue to appear online:

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.


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