The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Educational Foundation (“AAPS”) filed its reply in support of adding allegations against the censorship activities of the Biden Administration related to its alleged violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). This case is on remand in Galveston, Texas, from a June 3 precedent-setting decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which established that there is a constitutional right to hear.

“FACA requires transparency and balance in federal advisory committees,” which is lacking in the key committees of the Department of Homeland Security, AAPS explained to the court. Because the Biden Administration’s Homeland Security Advisory Council lacks balance, among other defects, the court should allow AAPS’s lawsuit to proceed against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, AAPS’s attorney Andrew Schlafly states.

Initially AAPS sued the federal government over its Disinformation Governance Board, which the Biden Administration then disbanded. But while Secretary Mayorkas adopted the recommendation of his department “that there is no need for a separate Disinformation Governance Board,” AAPS explains in its court filing that the censorship activities by the government never really ceased. Instead, they were dispersed throughout the Department of Homeland Security. Just as a rose “by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, act II, sc. 2), “ending use of the name Disinformation Governance Board did not end the First Amendment infringement,” Mr. Schlafly observes.

The Amended Complaint includes the newly available fact that Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in his August 26 letter to Congress that the government “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.”

AAPS Educational Foundation’s lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Galveston, No. 3:22-cv-240.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Educational Foundation sponsors conferences and subsidizes students’ attendance.