Civil Society Organizations Join Do No Harm in Opposing California’s Orwellian Licensing Law

Last week, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Young Americans for Freedom, and the Cato Institute each filed amicus briefs in Do No Harm’s lawsuit against California’s medical board. 

Do No Harm thanks these organizations for their work to fight for free speech in medical education. 

In 2019, California mandated all continuing medical education (CME) courses “contain curriculum that includes the understanding of implicit bias,” beginning in 2022. California requires physicians to log 50 CME hours every two years to renew their medical license; thus, the law effectively forces physicians to submit to hours of ideological programming if they wish to renew their license.

But more troublingly, the law requires physicians teaching CME courses to become active participants in advancing this ideological agenda. This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment’s prohibition of compelled speech.

In 2023, Do No Harm joined Dr. Azadeh Khatibi’s lawsuit against the Medical Board of California on the grounds that the law violated physicians’ First Amendment rights. However, the district court dismissed the claim in May 2024, finding that CME courses were “government speech.” Do No Harm appealed the decision last month. 

Do No Harm applauds the Cato Institute, Young Americans for Freedom, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons for their briefs opposing this law.

In its brief, Young Americans for Freedom notes that the “Supreme Court has conclusively invalidated schemes like the one at issue here, finding the First Amendment trumps an illusory or sham government-speech argument.”

The Cato Institute likewise points out that “under the district court’s reasoning, there is no limit to what a state could force into the mouths of professional development instructors.” 

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons notes that “if continuing education courses are stripped of First Amendment protection, then red states like Idaho and Montana could require that all continuing legal and medical education courses include statements about harm from illegal immigration.”

Do No Harm thanks the late Dr. Marilyn Singleton for helping advance this lawsuit.