Five more California doctors have joined the effort to overturn a new state law restricting the advice they can give patients about COVID-19, filing the second federal lawsuit against the restrictive law in four weeks.
The new law authorizes the Medical Board of California to sanction and revoke the licenses of doctors who spread misinformation that challenges the “contemporary scientific consensus” about COVID-19. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill Sept. 30, which is due to take effect Jan. 1.
Filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the latest lawsuit claims the measure violates physicians’ constitutional rights to free speech and expression.