Fourth Circuit Strikes Down West Virginia Law Shielding Judges and Officers Addresses

A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a West Virginia law barring the online publication of home addresses and unpublished phone numbers belonging to judges and law enforcement officers is unconstitutional. Reuters reported that the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was the first time a federal appellate court has struck down one of the state laws passed to protect such information. Bloomberg Law also reported the ruling.

Why the panel ruled against the law

Writing for a three judge panel, US Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer said the law imposed a content based restriction on speech that was not narrowly tailored to serve the state's interest in the safety of judges and law enforcement officials. "West Virginia was fully justified in attempting to regulate such speech in light of the compelling government interest in enhancing the safety and security of certain public officials, but its efforts reached more broadly (than) necessary to accomplish the task," Niemeyer wrote, according to Reuters.

The panel pointed to one feature that set the West Virginia statute apart from similar laws elsewhere. It did not require an official to notify a company that protected information was posted and ask for its removal before filing suit. As a result, Niemeyer wrote, data brokers could face liability for publishing information about a broad group of people without knowing it included protected officials. "As a result, data brokers either face liability or they self-censor and do not publish such information," he wrote.

The lawsuits behind the ruling

The ruling came in lawsuits filed by Michael Jackson, a retired law enforcement officer, against Thomson Reuters, Whitepages Inc, Thryv, PeopleConnect and LexisNexis, part of RELX. In class action lawsuits, Jackson alleged the companies violated West Virginia's Daniel's Law by publishing covered people's home addresses and unpublished phone numbers through their online people search services, Reuters reported. Bloomberg Law reported that Jackson filed separate lawsuits against Thomson Reuters America Corp., LexisNexis Risk Solutions Inc. and other businesses.

The state law barred disclosure of a covered official's home address or unpublished telephone number without permission. It allowed lawsuits seeking at least 1,000 dollars per violation, along with punitive damages, attorney fees and injunctive relief. US District Judge Michael Urbanski dismissed Jackson's lawsuits in August 2025 after concluding that the law violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and the Fourth Circuit agreed on Tuesday. The case is Jackson v Thomson Reuters, Fourth Circuit No. 25-2121.

A law written after a judge's son was killed

West Virginia enacted its Daniel's Law in 2021. The state laws took their name from Daniel Anderl, the 20 year old son of US District Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey. A disgruntled lawyer who found Salas's home address online shot and killed Anderl at the family home in 2020 and wounded Salas's husband. More than a dozen states have adopted their own versions of Daniel's Law since then, including New Jersey, where that state's measure remains subject to litigation, Reuters reported. Congress passed a separate federal law, the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, in 2022 to protect federal judges' personal information online.

Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samir Deger-Sen of Latham and Watkins, who represented PeopleConnect and argued the appeal for all the defendants, did not respond, and neither did Jackson's lawyer, Philip Fraietta of Bursor and Fisher, Reuters reported.