A federal district court ruled on Friday that California's laws that censor political speech are unconstitutional. 

The judge's ruling comes after two separate lawsuits involving Christian satire website The Babylon Bee, the operators of the video-sharing platform that hosts a variety of content, Rumble, and California attorney and blogger, Kelly Chang Rickert. 

Attorneys representing both organizations challenged two laws: AB 2839, which targets and punishes speakers for engaging in certain political commentary, including satirical memes and parodies of politicians, and AB 2655, which requires large online platforms to act as the government's censor and remove certain political commentary from their sites.

According to a news release from the Alliance Defending Freedom, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found both laws to be unconstitutional. 

"Making fun of politicians and criticizing the government is a core First Amendment right. That includes using new technology to create parody campaign ads or satirical memes," said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who argued before the court. "The court was right to rein in California’s blatant censorship. We can’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates."

In a statement, The Babylon Bee CEO, Seth Dillon, said he's pleased that the court recognized that the First Amendment secures the publication's right to tell jokes, including "ones the government doesn't like." 

"Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies," said Dillon, adding, "It becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy."

"My personal blog and social media accounts don’t need Governor Newsom’s stamp of approval," Rickert added. "This attempt to silence humor and other content that appeals to me and my audience was a blatant misuse of power to silence dissent."