WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The State of Rhode Island has appointed Dr. Stephen Skoly unlawfully barred from practicing much-needed dental care in retaliation for his public opposition to the temporary emergency regulation requiring “all healthcare workers and healthcare providers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.” Statements and actions by state officials make it clear that against Dr. Skoly official measures have been taken especially because he publicly expressed his opposition and would have been without the speech of Dr. Skoly not been taken. Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance submitted a motion answer to the Federal Government’s motion to dismiss Skoly v. McKee, et al., in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The First Amendment prohibits government officials from subjecting someone to retaliatory measures, such as seeking out an investigation for speaking up.

dr Skoly, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, had been practicing his profession in Rhode Island for over two decades when the Rhode Island Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully and in violation of several constitutional provisions essentially shut down his profession in response to the Covid pandemic. Because of dr. Skoly’s previous experience with Bell’s palsy and his acquisition of natural immunity to his own Covid infection made him refuse vaccination. Despite the condition of Dr. Skoly, his commitment to patient safety (including strict mask protocols) and lack of any evidence that patients were infected at his practice, Rhode Island refused to let Dr. To grant Skoly a medical immunization exemption for over five months.

dr Skoly requested an administrative hearing on the compliance order, but that request was resolved through a termination agreement. On March 11, 2022, Rhode Island replaced the original vaccination regulation with a revised one that did not apply to Dr. Skoly in his office was valid. But dr Skoly’s First Amendment claim in this…