An interesting new expert witness controversy has broken out; this time in California. You will recall the Florida fiasco recounted here and here and here.
A group of parents are suing the state over the learning losses that that the state's pandemic response imposed on children. Plaintiff attorneys recruited expert witnesses from Stanford University to support their case. The California education department claims that the researchers signed an agreement to not testify against the state as a condition of accessing the state's data on k-12 schools during the pandemic. The prohibition, the state argues, extends to any testimony against the state, even when that testimony does not rely on the state's own data.
From the state's letter to one of the researchers:
