The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a First Amendment challenge to California Senate Bill 399, which restricts companies from forcing employees to attend meetings about political or religious matters.

The Liberty Justice Center and the California Justice Center sued the state on behalf of the California Policy Center, arguing the law limits its ability to hold mandatory employee meetings about political issues central to its work. 

The state argued that the CPC was likely exempt from the law because of the political nature of its work. The CPC is a nonprofit that researches California public policy, including education reform and government transparency. 

The 9th Circuit ruled that the lawsuit could return to the district court, noting that the policy center's intended political discussions could fall outside exemptions for job-related communications and certain political organizations.

“California cannot threaten an organization with enforcement of a speech-restricting law and then argue that the organization has no right to challenge it,” Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and director of litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement. “The Ninth Circuit correctly recognized that the California Policy Center does not have to wait to be punished before defending its First Amendment rights. Now we can return to court and challenge the constitutionality of this law.”

The California law was signed in 2024 and the district court initially removed the center's challenge in 2025 after concluding CPC had not established sufficient legal standing to bring its pre-enforcement challenge.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.