{"id":1824947,"date":"2023-01-26T12:05:11","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T17:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1824947"},"modified":"2023-01-26T12:08:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T17:08:32","slug":"judge-blocks-floridas-covid-misinfo-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-blocks-floridas-covid-misinfo-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Florida&#8217;s COVID &#8220;Misinfo&#8221; Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-blocks-floridas-covid-misinfo-law%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1824947&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Tarzana-California-Doctor-Covid-1200x705-1.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-california\">California<\/a> judge on Wednesday halted the state\u2019s so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-covid-19\">COVID-19<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-misinformation\">misinformation<\/a> Disinformation law was also challenged by doctors in two lawsuits alleging it violates their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0Hoeg v. Newsom, five doctors alleged\u00a0that the state law,\u00a0AB 2098,\u00a0is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0A separate related lawsuit,\u00a0Hoang v. Bonta, makes similar allegations.<\/p>\n<p>Both lawsuits sought a preliminary order to stop California from enforcing California&#8217;s law.<\/p>\n<p>Five doctors, Azadeh Khatibi (Zazadeh Khatibi), Ram Duriseti and Aaron Kheriaty (Pet Mazolewski), and Ram Duriseti (Tricha Hoeg) filed a lawsuit against Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom<\/a> Other officials, such as the president and members of California&#8217;s Medical Board of California.<\/p>\n<p>They argued the law prevents them\u00a0from providing information to their patients that may contradict what the law permits or prohibits.\u00a0They also alleged the law was\u00a0used to intimidate and punish physicians who disagreed with prevailing views on COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>In his ruling, Judge William Shubb (a George W. Bush appointee)<a href=\"https:\/\/nclalegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Hoeg-v.-Newsom-PI-Decision.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) it was plausible that the medical board would determine their conduct violates AB 2098, and therefore the doctors\u2019 fears are reasonable \u201cgiven the ambiguity of the term \u2018scientific consensus\u2019 and of the definition of \u2018misinformation\u2019 as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shubb observed that this weighed in favour of the plaintiffs&#8217; standing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the definition of misinformation \u2018fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited, [and] is so standardless that it authorizes or encourages seriously discriminatory enforcement,\u2019 the provision is unconstitutionally vague,\u201d Shubb wrote. \u201cAccordingly, the court concludes that plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their vagueness challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Law<\/h2>\n<p>Newsom signed it into law in September 2022. The bill went into effect January 1, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Misinformation is defined by law as \u201cfalse information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus,\u201d Doctors are prohibited from disseminating \u201cmisinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doctors who deviate from the established U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s guidance by attempting to assess and advise their patients as individuals may run afoul of the new law.<\/p>\n<p>A law requires that the state medical board take action against any doctor accused of being unprofessional.<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s ruling effectively halts the law while the legal challenge plays out.<\/p>\n<p>The legal organization representing the doctors said their clients were put in a difficult position, fearing\u00a0repercussions for acting in the best interests of their patients by giving them honest information, depriving them of their right to receive advice and hear treatment options without fear of professional discipline.<\/p>\n<p>According to American Civil Liberties Alliance (ACLA), the\u00a0First Amendment, which protects Americans\u2019 rights to free speech and expression, applies to minority views and majority opinions.<\/p>\n<p>ACLA stated that doctors have claimed they were threatened on social media by other doctors or individuals to use AB2098 in order to lose their licenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are being put between a rock and a hard place, fearing repercussions for acting in their patients\u2019 best interests by honestly giving them the information they believe their patients need in order to make informed care decisions,\u201d ACLA stated in a <a href=\"https:\/\/nclalegal.org\/hoeg-et-al-v-newsom-et-al\/\">summary<\/a> a case study of its website.<\/p>\n<p>One of the doctors in Hoeg v. Newsom welcomed the judge\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ruling bodes well for our case: it indicates that our arguments that this law is unconstitutional have strong pre-trial facial plausibility,\u201d Kheriaty shared his thoughts on Twitter. \u201cNot to get ahead of ourselves, of course, or try to predict the final outcome of the case, but this is a very positive development.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A California judge on Wednesday halted the state\u2019s so-called COVID-19 misinformation Disinformation law was also challenged by doctors in two lawsuits alleging it violates their constitutional rights. In\u00a0Hoeg v. Newsom, five doctors alleged\u00a0that the state law,\u00a0AB 2098,\u00a0is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0A separate related lawsuit,\u00a0Hoang v. Bonta, makes similar &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1824950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[6183,4127,9996,5387,6547,8376],"class_list":["post-1824947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-blocks","tag-covid","tag-floridas","tag-judge","tag-law","tag-misinfo"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1824950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}