Yesterday afternoon, I filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction to stop the Cali. Medical Board from continuing investigating physicians for spreading so-called “Covid Misinformation” to the public. The hearing on the motion will likely be at the end of September. I think there is an excellent chance the judge will grant the motion.

I won’t bore you with all the paperwork, but here is our Memo in support of the injunction motion and the very excellent declaration of PIC’s general counsel, the Right-Reverend Greg Glaser.
justmemooflaw

glaserdeclaration w Exhibit(1)

Ten years ago, the same judge issued a preliminary injunction against a sheriff’s department which disciplined a sheriff’s deputy for publishing letters to the editor in a newspaper criticizing law enforcement’s policies. The judge was pretty clear that even though the deputy was a member of law enforcement, he had a First Amendment right to speak out in public about law enforcement issues.

In addition, one Ninth Circuit decision had quoted authority that medical and dental boards cannot discipline licensees for speaking out in public about public health issues. And in another Ninth Circuit case, the two separate district court judges had enjoined the DEA which had threatened physicians with DEA delicensing for recommending medical marijuana to patients. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the permanent injunction barring the DEA from investigating or threatening physicians.

These three cases, along with precedent for the last seventy-five years which clearly affirms that the government cannot interfere with the right of professionals to speak out in public makes me feel pretty, pretty good (a la Larry David).

But let’s be real, the Medical Board has a lot of clout in this state, and judges are sometimes (or often) reluctant to second-guess medical authorities. But this a purely a First Amendment issue, and I am hopeful that the Board is not going to be able to hide behind the overgeneralizations about “protecting the public” from hearing medical and scientific opinions with which the government disagrees. In this country, we don’t do that, or at least, not until now.

If you haven’t donated to support this lawsuit, please do so now. Here are the links to donate (credit card, and Paypal(including credit card via Paypal) and Zelle)

credit card

https://donate.stripe.com/bIY7sJe17gN7fzq288

Paypal

Zelle: rickjaffeesquire@gmail.com

FYI, my next target is the kindly folks who instigated this whole mess, and that would be the Federation of State Medical Boards.

Rick Jaffe, Esq.