On February 11, 2025, the Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit challenging a California law that violates employers’ First Amendment rights by prohibiting companies from discussing any “religious or political matters” at mandatory meetings.
On September 27, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 399 (SB 399) into law. Although labeled the “California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” SB 399 does not actually address intimidation—rather, it bans California employers from communicating with their employees about political or religious matters during any mandatory meetings, such as all-staff calls.
SB 399 restricts speech based on its content, declaring that Californian employers may discuss almost any topic in mandatory employee meetings—except politics and religion. The Supreme Court has ruled that such content-based restrictions on free speech presumptively violate the First Amendment.
On February 11, 2025, the Liberty Justice Center challenged SB 399 on behalf of the California Policy Center (CPC), a nonprofit that conducts research on public policy matters across the state, including education reform and government transparency. Because the organization’s central work entails researching state politics and communicating its findings to Californian residents, CPC regularly holds all-staff meetings to discuss political matters. However, SB 399 now makes such meetings illegal.
This restriction on the CPC’s ability to hold mandatory employee meetings about political matters important to its mission and daily work violates the organization’s right to free speech under the First Amendment. The lawsuit seeks to enjoin SB 399 to restore employers’ free speech rights across the state of California.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly found that content-based restrictions on free speech are presumptively unconstitutional. California cannot pick and choose what employers may say at mandatory employee meetings. We urge the court to strike down this overt violation of the First Amendment,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
“SB 399 sets a dangerous precedent by allowing the government to punish Californian employers for their speech based on whether it approves of the content of that speech. We are proud to join the Liberty Justice Center in challenging this legislation,” said Will Swaim, President of the California Policy Center, plaintiff in the lawsuit.
California Policy Center v. Garcia-Brower was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on February 11, 2025. California Justice Center joined as co-counsel.
On October 29, 2026, the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of California Policy Center’s challenge to California Senate Bill 399, finding that CPC had sufficiently alleged that the bill could apply to its planned meetings and that it faced a credible threat of enforcement. The appeals court also reversed a subsequent dismissal under Rule 41(b), concluding that dismissal was too harsh when a less drastic alternative was available. The case has returned to the district court for further litigation.
Jeffrey M. Schwab serves as Senior Counsel and Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.
Tim Kilcullen serves as a staff attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. He has a deep passion for protecting Americans’ fundamental liberties, particularly their right to free speech and a free press.
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