Doctors’ Covid-19 Speech Suit Rendered Moot by California Repeal

California doctors can no longer pursue a lawsuit challenging a now-repealed law that threatened them with professional sanctions for spreading false information about Covid-19.

Claims that AB 2098 violated doctors’ free speech rights under the First Amendment are moot, Judge William B. Shubb, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, said Tuesday. Shubb dismissed the lawsuit, saying the plaintiff doctors hadn’t shown that there’s a reasonable expectation that state lawmakers will reenact it or adopt a similar new provision.

Shubb cited McDonald v. Lawson in his ruling. There, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth ...