Federal Judge Blocks California Law Punishing Doctors for 'COVID Misinformation'

Federal Judge Blocks California Law Punishing Doctors for 'COVID Misinformation' | 26 Jan 2023 | A federal judge in California on Wednesday granted Children's Health Defense (CHD)-California Chapter's request for a preliminary injunction to block a California law that would have allowed the state’s medical boards to punish doctors for spreading "COVID-19 misinformation." In his 30-page opinion, Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb determined the defendants in the case -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Medical and Osteopathic Boards -- provided "no evidence that 'scientific consensus' has any established technical meaning," and that the law provides "no clarity" on the meaning of the word "misinformation." Judge Shubb also found the "plaintiffs have established a likelihood of success on the grounds of their Fourteenth Amendment vagueness challenges." The ruling pertains to a lawsuit filed Dec. 1, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of plaintiffs CHD-California Chapter, Dr. LeTrinh Hoang and Physicians for Informed Consent.