Reilly Stephens
Reilly Stephens is a Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
Victory for Free Speech: On October 1, 2023, the Liberty Justice Center announced a victory for free speech as California conceded the inevitable and quietly repealed its physician-censorship law. The repeal took effect on January 1, 2024.
Case History: Regardless of their chosen profession, all Americans have the constitutional right to free speech—not just speech that falls into line with politically favored viewpoints.
Science is not static. By its very nature, science is constantly evolving and the subject of unending debate. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, politically motivated government officials and public health officials have named themselves the arbiters of “scientific consensus,” and threatened dire consequences for those who don’t fall into line.
In 2022, California gave bureaucrats unprecedented power to enforce “consensus” and police speech as Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2098 (AB 2098), a law authorizing the Medical Board of California to punish doctors with license revocation for sharing “misinformation” about COVID-19. The law defined “misinformation” as anything “contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus”—a vague, constantly shifting standard that chilled doctors’ free speech.
Two California doctors—Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Mark McDonald, MD, and Orange County primary care physician Dr. Jeff Barke, MD—stood up against this power grab, seeking to protect physicians’ free speech rights and their ability to give their patients their best honest advice. The Liberty Justice Center sued on their behalf, arguing that AB 2098’s censorship violated the First Amendment.
On October 1, 2023, after a year of litigation—and a hearing where the state faced an icy reception from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—the Liberty Justice Center announced a victory for free speech as California conceded the inevitable and quietly repealed its physician-censorship law. AB 2098’s repeal took effect on January 1, 2024.
“It shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit and a year of litigation, but we’re thrilled to see California restore doctors’ ability to speak freely by repealing this censorship law,” said Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert. “Doctors have the same right to free speech as everyone else, and patients deserve their doctors’ best honest advice. We’re glad California repealed this bill before it could spread to other states, and we’re proud to have defended our clients’ First Amendment rights.”
“We are proud to have been a part of the Liberty Justice Center’s work to defend free speech,” said plaintiff Dr. Mark McDonald. “Because of this repeal, California doctors no longer have to fear that giving patients their expert medical opinion could lead to punishment by bureaucrats—who have no medical training and are wholly unaccountable to the public they’re harming through such laws.”
The Liberty Justice Center continues to litigate in defense of Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to free speech (online as well as offline), the right to keep and bear arms, parental rights, the right of public access, and more.
Reilly Stephens is a Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
(American Family News)—On January 1, the Golden State repealed a law preventing doctors from spreading “misinformation” about COVID-19. The repeal was scheduled in 2023 after Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of two California doctors who wanted to be free to tell their patients what they really think...
(American Family News)—In late 2022, California passed a law that said doctors could lose their license for giving patients so-called “misinformation” about COVID, even one time. Shortly after the law was passed, Liberty Justice Center sued to challenge the law in federal court on behalf of California doctors for violating...
(The Center Square)—The Liberty Justice Center urged the Ninth Circuit Court to issue a judgment against a California law, which will be repealed at the beginning of 2024 but still threatens doctors with suspension of their medical licenses for spreading what the state has deemed is COVID-19 information outside of...
(The Center Square)—California quietly repealed a law making a doctor spreading state-determined COVID-19 misinformation guilty of unprofessional conduct that could cost a doctor his or her medical license. AB 2098, signed into law in 2022, allows the Medical Board of California to revoke the license of doctors who share any...
(The Washington Times)—California has repealed a misinformation law that restricted the advice doctors could give patients about COVID-19, bowing to mounting legal pressure. The legislation was signed into law in September 2022 and took effect in January. It tried to define COVID disinformation as “unprofessional conduct” and empower the Medical...
(American Family News)—Under Assembly Bill 2098, a doctor could lose his or her medical license for giving patients so-called “misinformation” about COVID, which the measure defines as anything that goes against the contemporary scientific consensus. In other words, a single instance of a doctor telling a patient a single piece...
(National Review)—California governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill repealing a law prohibiting physicians from sharing information with their patients that contradicts the prevailing scientific sentiment on Covid-19. The initial law, which Newsom signed in September 2022, violated doctors’ First Amendment rights to free speech and Fourteenth Amendment rights...
(Northern California Record)—Facing the risk of a stinging loss before a federal appeals panel, California’s Democrat-dominated legislature has repealed a law that would have allowed the state to strip the medical licenses of any doctors who discussed information about Covid that ran counter to what the state believed to be...
(The Center Square)—California’s new law, AB 2098 – which allows professional sanctions against doctors challenging the state-defined ‘scientific consensus’ on COVID-19 – faced oral argument in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Challenging the law is two physicians championing free speech rights backed by the Liberty...