Two California doctors are challenging a state law that requires them to call the doctors they teach racists.

In 2019, California passed Assembly Bill 241 by then-Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), requiring that starting in 2022 teachers of continuing medical education for doctors would include “implicit bias” training–namely telling doctors they are bigoted whether they realize it or not. Kamlager-Dove is now serving as the U.S. representative for California’s 37th congressional district.

In other words bias is asserted but not proved. There are some crimes so serious that innocence is no defense.

All courses are required to tell doctors how implicit bias affects perceptions and treatment decisions of physicians and surgeons, leading to disparities in health outcomes” and include “strategies to address” this supposed subconscious bias.

Now, two doctors who teach continuing medical education courses in California are challenging the law on First Amendment grounds. Their federal lawsuit says the requirement for teaching implicit bias amounts to compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment.