Federal Judge Blocks California’s Fee-Shifting Law for Second Amendment Challenges

California’s attempt to discourage legal challenges to its gun laws has been dealt a fatal blow in court.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the “fee-shifting” provision in California’s law mimicking Texas’ bounty-style abortion ban on Monday. Benitez ruled the provision “substantially chills First Amendment rights.”

“This Court concludes that the purpose and effect of § 1021.11 is to trench on a citizen’s right of access to the courts and to discourage the peaceful vindication of an enumerated constitutional right,” Benitez wrote in his opinion. “Because the state fee-shifting statute undermines a citizen’s constitutional rights, it is this Court’s role to declare its invalidity and enjoin its threat.”