The Liberty Justice Center has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of Dr. Eric Cubin, a Wyoming radiologist who alleges he was forced to resign from the Wyoming Board of Medicine in retaliation for expressing his personal views in support of a controversial state law.
The case stems from a February 2024 email Dr. Cubin sent to the Wyoming House of Representatives endorsing Senate File 99—known as “Chloe’s Law”—which bans gender reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments for minors.
Although he wrote the message in his personal capacity and from his personal email, Governor Mark Gordon cited the email as grounds for Dr. Cubin’s removal just one month after signing the bill into law himself.
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“The record in this case is clear: Governor Gordon fired Dr. Cubin from the Wyoming Board of Medicine because he spoke out on legislation,” said Jacob Huebert, President of the Liberty Justice Center. “There was no valid justification for the Governor’s retaliation. It violated Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment rights, so we’re asking the court to order the Governor to restore Dr. Cubin to his position.”
Dr. Cubin was appointed to the Board in 2023, a body responsible for licensing and regulating physicians across the state. In his email to lawmakers, he also criticized the Wyoming Medical Society (WMS) for opposing “Chloe’s Law,” arguing the organization had not accurately reflected the views of its membership.
Governor Gordon claimed that Dr. Cubin’s email created an “appearance of bias” and could be seen as an official position of the Board, despite the fact that the correspondence did not reference his role, was sent from a personal account, and explicitly stated he was speaking as a private citizen.
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The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit in August 2024, asserting that the Governor’s actions violated Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment rights to free speech and to petition the government. A Wyoming federal district court later denied a motion to reinstate Dr. Cubin to the Board during the litigation, prompting the current appeal to the Tenth Circuit.
The case raises broader questions about the limits of public officials’ speech rights and the extent to which government appointees can be held accountable for private political expression.
As the legal battle continues, the Liberty Justice Center is asking the appellate court to reverse the lower court’s decision and immediately restore Dr. Cubin to the Board of Medicine while the constitutional challenge proceeds.
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