Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization started by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attempted to defend doctors under investigation in Washington state for allegedly disseminating false information regarding the Covid-19 virus, but the Supreme Court denied their request on Wednesday.
On behalf of the court, Justice Elena Kagan rejected the emergency application.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Rick Jaffe, stated, “We hope that one day the Supreme Court will clearly state that the Constitution does not permit the government to sanction the public viewpoint speech of physicians.”
Among the attorneys on the application was Kennedy, whom President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy’s organization and other plaintiffs contend that any inquiries aimed at punishing physicians for their opinions regarding the virus would be an infringement on their First Amendment right to free speech.
Lower courts, such as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, refused to issue injunctions that would have prevented the Washington Medical Commission’s investigations.
“The enforcement actions not only chill speech but also deprive the public of critical viewpoints necessary for informed debate, especially during a public health crisis,” Kennedy and his partner attorneys said in court filings.
The Supreme Court implied that the application lacked legal validity by not requesting that the state provide a response.
Richard Eggleston and Thomas Siler, two doctors under investigation, had joined Kennedy’s group in requesting the court’s opinion.
According to a federal judge who declined to issue an injunction, Eggleston and Siler disseminated misleading information about the virus during the pandemic, claiming among other things that immunizations were ineffective.
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