A Casper radiologist suffered a significant loss Monday in his fight to get back on the Wyoming Board of Medicine when a federal judge rejected his claims against Gov. Mark Gordon, who forced Cubin to resign from the board last year.
Cubin was pushed off from the Wyoming Board of Medicine in April 2024 after sending an email to all 93 state legislators criticizing a well-known medical group and an individual doctor who lobbied against a ban on transgender treatments for minors in 2024.
First Amendment Limits
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl ruled against Cubin, saying the governor did not impede his First Amendment rights and that Gordon was protected in taking the actions he did by the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In short, Skavdahl said that First Amendment rights do have limits, particularly when someone enters government service.
“In balancing Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment interests in speaking and petitioning as a citizen on a matter of public concern against Wyoming’s countervailing interests in the impartial and efficient management of its government affairs, the court finds the balance favors the government employer,” Skavdahl wrote in his 30-page decision.
Skavdahl sided with the governor on two counts and dismissed the third without prejudice.
“The district court’s decision is disappointing but not surprising given its earlier ruling incorrectly denying a preliminary injunction to restore Dr. Cubin to the Board of Medicine,” said Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center representing Cubin in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our arguments to the 10th Circuit in our appeals of both decisions.”
In March, Cubin already filed an appeal on Skavdahl’s earlier ruling to reject a request to immediately put him back on the medical board. The challenge is currently being considered in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gordon declined to comment on Skavdahl’s ruling due the pending nature of this case.
What’s It About?
Cubin lobbied for the transgender treatments ban in an email where he also slammed the Wyoming Medical Society, of which he was then a member, for opposing what was originally known as “Chloe’s Law.”
Under the law, which was signed by Gordon less than a month after Cubin sent his email, the Wyoming Board of Medicine can revoke a physician’s license if he or she has offered any “gender-affirming care” to minors in Wyoming.
Gordon told Cubin in a letter about a month after he signed the bill into law that he showed an inappropriate bias that could cloud his judgement on the board, or at least give off that perception, and threatened to remove him.
Skavdahl said that even under the current political climate, expressing disagreement with a private organization’s operations and positions does not amount to providing misconduct or official wrongdoing. The judge also said that even if Cubin proved his assertions about the Medical Society do concern the public, Gordon would still have the upper hand when it comes to promoting efficiency and avoiding disruption on the Medical board.
Cubin had commented in his email that the Medical Society “has been essentially hijacked by the far left.” Skavdahl said Cubin’s email “could also cause others, such as those on the “left” of the partisan divide, to also question whether “Cubin would be a fair and impartial arbiter for them.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
