Satire news outlets, campaigns, and individual citizens are now free to make fun of Hawaii political candidates, following a federal district court ruling.
Last Friday, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii ruled in favor of satire news site the Babylon Bee and a Hawaii resident, Dawn O’Brien, who challenged Act 191.
Democrat Governor Josh Green signed the law in July 2024. It forbids “materially deceptive media” that have “the risk of harming the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate in an election or changing the voting behavior of voters in an election,” according to the statute. That law would have gone into effect on Monday, subjecting violators to thousands of dollars in fines and prison time.
District Judge Shanlyn Park struck down the law on Friday, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.” Judge Park also ruled its implementation would have a “chilling effect on First Amendment speech.”
“Political speech, of course, is at the core of what the First Amendment is designed to protect,” Judge Park wrote.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said satire and the truth are deeply intertwined.
“For centuries, humor and satire have served as an important vehicle to deliver truth with a smile, and this kind of speech receives the utmost protection under the Constitution,” ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann stated in a news release. He argued the case in the district court.
“The court is right to put a stop to Hawaii’s war against political memes and satire,” he stated. “The First Amendment doesn’t allow Hawaii to choose what political speech is acceptable and censor speech in the name of ‘misinformation.’’
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon also celebrated the ruling, saying “comedy” should not be treated as a “crime.”
“It’s not just about us, though,” he also wrote on X. “We fight these laws not only because they criminalize our conduct — though that’s a pretty good reason — but because they diminish everyone’s freedom.”
ADF also represented Dillon and The Babylon Bee in a successful lawsuit challenging a California law that would have regulated political parody.
The Christian legal group noted that Hawaii’s law “received extensive negative feedback during the legislative process” including from the Motion Picture Association.
The group specifically lobbied for a “parody and satire” exception, but the legislature rejected that request, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.
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