SPOKANE — Basketball legend John Stockton has taken his disdain for COVID-19 restrictions to a federal courtroom, initiating a lawsuit with other plaintiffs against the Washington State Office of the Attorney General over pandemic rules that restrict doctors from speaking against “the mainstream Covid narrative.”
Already a vocal critic of COVID-19 restrictions, the Basketball Hall of Fame point guard along several doctors who have faced state sanctions filed the suit on Thursday.
It leaves room for dozens unidentified physicians believed to have also been warned over their COVID-19 speech. Rick Jaffe, one of Stockton’s attorneys on the case, said it’s ultimately about free speech.
“The only thing we’re interested in is the First Amendment issue,” Jaffe said. “Does the medical board have the constitutional authority to investigate, prosecute and sanction doctors for writing articles, posting blogs on websites and speaking out in public, even if the government or the medical board thinks what they’re saying is wrong or dangerous?”
Along with Jaffe, Stockton and the other plaintiffs in the suit are represented by Todd S. Richardson and presidential candidate and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. The younger Kennedy is known for his controversial anti-vaccine views.
Jaffe said the state indicated it would sanction doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation starting in September 2021, following guidance from the Federation of State Medical Boards.
“Most other states in the country don’t go as far as Washington. In my view, Washington is an outlier,” he said.
One of the plaintiffs, retired ophthalmologist Dr. Richard Eggleston, faced sanctions after he wrote a piece that ran in the Lewiston Tribune and a reader reported it, Jaffe said.
Other parties suing include Dr. Thomas T. Siler and Dr. Thomas Moynihan, as well as a nonprofit, the Children’s Health Defense.
Jaffe said he has represented other cases on the same issue in California, where a judge ordered a preliminary injunction halting the implementation of the speech restrictions.
While the suit centers around doctors’ rights, Jaffe said Stockton got involved because of his own views.
“Stockton has his podcast, he has guests on there, he has an interest, and I think that, you know, he, in a certain sense, can speak to the public,” Jaffe said.
The suit asks for a declaration that the state’s policy violates the First Amendment, a preliminary and permanent injunction on the policy and a declaration that the state’s position “violates the substantive procedural due process rights of Washington licensed physicians,” as well as attorneys’ fees and “other such further relief as the Court deems just and proper.”
Jaffe pointed out how the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its stances on COVID-19 multiple times. He said gagging doctors from sharing their own views on the virus is “really hurting the public in a time of great uncertainty.”
The AG’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
This isn’t the first time Stockton has taken a defiant stance on COVID-19 restrictions. The Gonzaga University alum was once suspended from attending basketball games at his alma mater after he refused to wear a face mask.
