‘Unconstitutionally Vague’: Judge Blocks California’s COVID ‘Misinformation’ Law

Susannah LuthiJanuary 26, 2023

California Governor gives the state the power to ban doctors from spreading information it considers not in accordance with the “contemporary scientific consensus”. Gavin Newsom. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).

Wednesday: Federal judge halted You can find more information at California law Let the state punish doctors who share “misinformation” Information about the coronavirus

William Shubb, U.S. District Judge, stated that Assembly Bill 2098 (which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.), signed September “unconstitutionally vague.” The law empowers California Medical Board to disbar and reprimand doctors who propagate what the state considers to be incompatible with the “contemporary scientific consensus” COVID-19. The law was blocked by five doctors who claimed that the law violated their First Amendment rights and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Shubb’s ruling prohibits the state from implementing the law while the case goes to trial. The New Civil Liberties Alliance, which represented the plaintiffs, cheered Shubb’s decision on Wednesday.

The law “creates an impossible standard for physicians to follow,” Jenin Younes, New Civil Liberties Alliance litigation counsel wrote Addition of it in a statement “would result in silencing physicians who disagree with state orthodoxy.”

Critics feared that the California law would be a muzzle and doctors worried about losing their license to speak honestly with patients. Plaintiffs claimed that the “consensus” From the beginning, COVID was a moving target. Plaintiffs pointed out that even high-ranking Biden officials, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky, had repeatedly altered their pandemic guidance.

Shubb agreed with these points in his ruling. “evidence that ‘scientific consensus’ has any established technical meaning,” And that “the expert declarations they offer are notably silent on the topic.”

Even Newsom was concerned about the bill as he signed it. writing He was a September resident “concerned about the chilling effect other potential laws may have on physicians and surgeons who need to be able to effectively talk to their patients about the risks and benefits of treatments for a disease that appeared in just the last few years.”