A federal appeals court revived Dr. Scott Jensen’s First Amendment lawsuit against the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice in a ruling this week.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell’s dismissal of the case for lack of standing.
“Years of investigations by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice caused Dr. Scott Jensen to speak less and spend more. Either would be enough for a court to hear his case, so we reverse,” the appeals court wrote.
Jensen, the 2022 Republican nominee for Minnesota governor and current nominee for state auditor, faced 18 complaints filed with the medical board, which led to at least four investigations.
As Tuesday’s ruling notes, anyone can file a complaint with the board, making Jensen an “easy target” for “political opponents.”
Jensen was a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns and frequently spoke about these issues on the campaign trail. As such, the complaints filed against him accused him of “spreading misinformation” and posing a “danger to public health.”
Jensen alleged that the board’s actions had a chilling effect on his speech, causing him to self-censor in his political role as a candidate and state senator, and cost him significant time and resources.
“Even a minor expenditure of ‘time and resources’ counts as an injury. Here, according to the amended complaint, Dr. Jensen did more, far more. For the first few investigations, he was ‘forced to spend hours of his time’ responding,” the court wrote.
“But for the last one, which went on for more than a year, he spent countless hours working on his responses, including compiling documents and eventually hiring a lawyer.”
According to the court, a reasonable person in Jensen’s situation would have concluded, like he did, that speaking “candidly and honestly” about COVID-19 “presented too great a risk.”
“Government licensing boards cannot use investigations as a weapon to chill political speech,” said Doug Seaton, president and founder of the Upper Midwest Law Center, which is representing Jensen.
“Dr. Jensen was forced to spend years defending his medical license because he spoke publicly about COVID-19 policy and government overreach. Today’s decision makes clear that public officials do not get a free pass when they use regulatory power to intimidate dissenting voices.”
In a video reacting to the decision, Jensen pointed out that not one of the complaints came from a patient.
“This was politically motivated and in some situations, it was nothing more than a hit piece from the opposite political party sent to the Board of Medical Practice,” he said. “That’s all it took. Take a screenshot of a hit piece. Send it to the Board of Medical Practice. They’ll make Dr. Jensen’s life more uncomfortable.”
The case will now return to the lower courts for further proceedings.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
