This focuses on a legal challenge to California’s covid-19 misinformation law, arguing that doctors should retain First Amendment protections when discussing medical information and treatment options with patients. Attorney Richard Jaffe tells Jimmy that after earlier rulings treated doctor-patient advice as regulable “conduct,” a later Supreme Court decision on protected therapeutic speech changed the legal landscape, leading a federal judge to rule in favor of three doctors challenging California’s restrictions.

Dr Pierre Kory argues that the case has implications far beyond covid-19 because allowing governments or medical boards to dictate what physicians may say could suppress medical dissent and independent judgment. The three characterize the ruling as a major victory for doctors’ and patients’ freedom of medical discussion, while also crediting legal organizations that supported the litigation.