A team of California doctors say they would be willing to “take it all the way to the top” in their legal fight against Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom over a state COVID-19 misinformation law that would punish doctors who disseminate coronavirus information deemed out of line with the “scientific consensus.”
The law, known as Assembly Bill 2098, would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2023 after being signed into law by the governor in September. However, the implementation of the law was temporarily halted after Aaron Kheriaty and four other doctors sued Newsom in November, alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment rights violations.Â
“We explained in our declarations that we’re still asked advice from patients frequently on COVID-related matters — masking, for example. Parents may ask me if that mask seems to be exacerbating their child’s anxiety disorder,” Kheriaty told Fox News Digital.Â
“This is a good idea to explain situations clinically in which we could potentially be impacted by this law. And in the order granting the preliminary injunction, the judge first said, ‘Yes, all five of the plaintiffs have standing to bring this case.’”
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Kheriaty and his team say the phrase “scientific consensus” is ambiguous, arguing that the vagueness of the phrase itself violates doctors’ rights in the due process clause of the Constitution.Â
“It has a chilling effect on physicians. If physicians aren’t sure whether what they’re about to say violates the law, then they’re just going to read from a script prepared by the California Department of Public Health,” Kheriaty said.Â
District Judge William B. Shubb ultimately erred on the plaintiffs’ side when granting their motion for a preliminary injunction in late January, writing “the provision is unconstitutionally vague.”Â
“I think the governor was worried about this law when he signed it, and I think he was worried about the…
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