Wilkinson V. Rodgers Update
On Friday, Silent Majority Foundation filed an amended complaint in Wilkinson v. Rodgers. The amended complaint did several things: kept all US Constitutional claims; removed ALL state claims, which will be brought later in state court; and added a claim that the challenged Position Statement is overbroad, meaning, it’s so generic that it covers too much speech and too many people. The claim still seeks damages from the Commission for the violation of the Plaintiffs’ civil rights for infringing on their speech. Our statement is below:
“All three Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights have been infringed by the Commission as Plaintiffs Cole and Wilkinson have been subject to charges based both on their speech and on their reasonable treatment of patients contravening the statement. Plaintiff Eggleston has been subject to charges based solely on his speech as he is currently retired. At issue, here, is not a challenge to how Defendants have charged Plaintiffs with violations, but rather, the core issues are: (1) that the Commission, including individual Commissioners, adopted the Position Statement, which directly infringes on protected rights; (2) that the Statement is void for vagueness as it employs undefined enforceable terms, such as “misinformation” and “disinformation,” and other terms; (3) that the Statement discriminates based on viewpoint; and (4) that the Commission is seeking to penalize Plaintiffs for their constitutionally protected speech.”
The next step is to file a Preliminary Injunction (PI) on this matter since Judge Rice denied our request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). While the standard of pleading for a TRO and a PI are nearly identical, we believe that there’s a basis to seek a PI under the amended complaint, which focuses on the substance of the Position Statement, not the enforcement thereof. Of course, that’s in the Court’s hands to decide.
Our entire amended complaint is attached below. As we continue to fight this battle we ask for your continued support through donations, prayer, following us and sharing our posts on social media. Thank you!
