The Liberty Justice Center has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of Dr. Eric Cubin, a Wyoming radiologist who was forced to resign from the Wyoming Board of Medicine by Governor Mark Gordon in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech.
The case centers on Dr. Cubin’s February 2024 email to the Wyoming House of Representatives, written in his personal capacity, in support of Senate File 99, also known as “Chloe’s Law.” The bill, which prohibits gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapy for minors, passed the legislature with strong support and was signed into law by Governor Gordon on March 22, 2024. However, just one month later after signing the bill, Governor Gordon terminated Dr. Cubin from the Wyoming Board of Medicine, explicitly citing his email to the legislature as the reason.
Dr. Cubin was appointed to the Wyoming Board of Medicine in 2023. The Board oversees medical regulation, compliance, and discipline in the state. In February 2024, Dr. Cubin wrote a letter to the Wyoming House of Representatives expressing his personal support for “Chloe’s Law” and criticizing the Wyoming Medical Society (WMS) for opposing the bill without adequately representing the views of its members
Dr. Cubin’s letter made it clear that he was speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of the Board or WMS. Despite this, Governor Gordon forced Dr. Cubin to resign from the Board, claiming that his letter created the “appearance of bias” and could give the impression that he was speaking on the Board’s behalf—even though his email was sent from his personal account, made clear that he was writing on his own behalf as a Wyoming physician, and did not even mention the Board or his position on it.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on Dr. Cubin’s behalf in August 2024, arguing that the Governor’s actions violated Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment rights to free speech and to petition the government. In October 2024, the Liberty Justice Center filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to reinstate Dr. Cubin on the Board during the litigation, but the Wyoming federal district court denied it. Today’s appeal asks the Tenth Circuit to reverse that decision and restore Dr. Cubin to his position.
“The record in this case is clear: Governor Gordon fired Dr. Cubin from the Wyoming Board of Medicine because he spoke out on legislation,” said Jacob Huebert, President of the Liberty Justice Center. “There was no valid justification for the Governor’s retaliation. It violated Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment rights, so we’re asking the court to order the Governor to restore Dr. Cubin to his position.”
The Liberty Justice Center’s legal filings in Cubin v. Gordon are available here.