Stockton v. Brown Challenges State Punishment of Protected Medical Speech

Washington, DC - December 29, 2025

On December 23, 2025, Dr. Simone Gold and the AFLDS legal team filed an amici curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court in Stockton v. Brown (25-606), urging the Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that allows Washington State to punish physicians for constitutionally protected medical speech.

The case involves Washington State physicians challenging the actions of state officials who enforced a sweeping “misinformation enforcement” policy that threatens doctors with disciplinary action if they depart from government-approved COVID-19 narratives.

In its brief, AFLDS asks the Supreme Court to reject coercive medical censorship, reaffirm that physicians do not forfeit their First Amendment rights as a condition of licensure, and restore constitutional protection to the doctor-patient relationship.

Washington’s enforcement scheme operates by compelling physicians to repeat state-endorsed viewpoints while chilling or prohibiting discussion of safer treatment options, medical risks, and alternative therapies. AFLDS argues this regime constitutes compelled speech and viewpoint discrimination in direct violation of the First Amendment and the Supreme Court’s holding in National Institute of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra.

The brief further notes that the Washington Court of Appeals has already held that the state’s “misinformation enforcement” policy is unconstitutional, failing to serve any compelling state interest. Despite that ruling, the Ninth Circuit declined to intervene, leaving physicians exposed to continued threats of investigation and discipline.

AFLDS asserts that Stockton fits squarely within a growing national pattern of state medical boards usurping authority never granted to them by statute or the Constitution, transforming licensing power into a tool for political and ideological enforcement. In Kory v. Bonta, Gold v. California Medical Board, and now Stockton v. Brown, licensing boards and state officials have attempted to weaponize regulatory power to police speech, punish dissent, and enforce government-approved medical narratives rather than regulate the practice of medicine or protect patients.

The brief warns that allowing states to dictate what doctors may say to their patients destroys informed consent, violates core medical ethics, and places patient safety at risk. Medicine cannot be governed by political decree, and patients cannot make informed decisions when doctors are forced to withhold or distort information under threat of punishment.

“Threatening physicians with discipline for refusing to parrot government-approved talking points is compelled speech, plain and simple, and medically very dangerous,” said AFLDS attorney David Dalia. “Medical boards are limited by statute and the Constitution. When they punish and censor speech instead of regulating medical practice, they usurp power they do not have, undermine informed consent, and violate the First Amendment.”

Dr. Simone Gold, founder of AFLDS, emphasized the broader stakes of the case. “Medical boards exist to protect patients, not to punish dissent or expand their power beyond the law. A doctor’s duty is to the patient, not the state. When governments censor physicians, patients lose access to truth, informed consent becomes impossible, and lives are put at risk. This case is about preserving medical ethics, medical freedom, and the constitutional protections that safeguard both.”

AFLDS urges the Supreme Court to grant review and resolve the growing conflict among federal courts, reaffirming that free speech protections extend fully to medical professionals and that the doctor-patient relationship must remain free from political control.

Stay tuned - We will keep you updated on the status of this case and our efforts to protect the free speech rights of all Americans.

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About AFLDS

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Media Contact Lisa Alexander, Communications Director | Media@AFLDS.org