TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On September 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered California to respond to a petition for rehearing challenging its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandated inclusion in all continuing medical education (CME) courses. Several plaintiffs, including an Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) past president, the late Marilyn Singleton, M.D., J.D., sued to overturn this in Khatibi v. Hawkins (9th Cir. No. 24-3108).
AAPS filed an amicus brief last month in support of this petition for a rehearing en banc of the panel decision upholding this DEI mandate. The AAPS brief objects to the DEI mandate’s infringement on principles of academic freedom respected by other states.
“The panel decision has the effect of turning professors and other teachers into political pawns, by requiring them to teach a particular ideology even if they disagree with it and even if it is irrelevant to the subject matter,” AAPS told the court. AAPS itself provides CME-accredited presentations to physicians, and has done so in California by holding one of its recent annual conferences there.
“At a time when most of the rest of the country is shifting away from DEI, California has doubled down on requiring it even when it is irrelevant,” observes AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly. “This is Orwellian mind control by a State that was once a beacon of freedom of speech,” he added.
The AAPS brief compares California’s mandatory DEI-in-every-course to the governmental tyranny criticized by Orwell in his landmark work. “By the end of the dystopian novel 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith loved Big Brother in overcoming his initial resistance.”
“Professors and other professionals at comparable levels of scholarship teach continuing education courses, in both medicine and law,” AAPS writes. “Compelling them to teach material in which they do not believe, or even vehemently disagree, is an affront to academic freedom contrary to longstanding precedents in this important field.”
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943. It publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Contact: Andrew Schlafly, (908) 719-8608, aschlafly@aol.com, or Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com