From the concurrence in Judge George Fearing's concurrence in today's Wilkinson v. Wash. Med. Comm'n. Judge Fearing wrote the majority opinion, which upheld discipline imposed on a doctor for his COVID-related treatment, but rejected such discipline for the doctor's public speech "downplaying the severity of the COVID pandemic, promoting the use of ivermectin over a vaccine, and criticizing the government's response to the pandemic." On balance, Judge Fearing's majority is quite a First-Amendment-protective opinion, and his separate concurrence also argued that the doctor's speech should be especially protected as political speech, and not just speech about medicine.
Then, several pages into his concurring opinion, Judge Fearing turned from the issues in the case to the First Amendment more broadly, and then to the political situation in the U.S. more broadly. A short excerpt from his long criticism (which offers specific details as well as general condemnation):
Not for more than two hundred years has any President sought to destroy the First Amendment as our current national leader has…. This President operates under an authoritarian and retributive agenda that trashes the First Amendment rights of those who criticize him or who support causes with which he disagrees. This President loathes the nonpartisan nature of the First Amendment…. Our current President refuses to answer legitimate questions posed by reporters and attacks inquiring journalists as unfair and stupid….
