Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford University, left, and Missouri AG Andrew Bailey (R) | Stanford.edu / AGO.MO.gov
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford University, left, and Missouri AG Andrew Bailey (R) | Stanford.edu / AGO.MO.gov
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, praised Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R-Mo.) following Bailey’s testimony before the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
"This testimony by AG Andrew Bailey is fantastic,” tweeted Bhattacharya. “He is right that Missouri v. Biden is the most important free speech case of our generation (at least) and that the Biden administration's contempt for free speech should shock every American.”
The Show-Me State Times reported that, in his testimony, Bailey's criticized the federal government for “unlawfully pressuring Big Tech companies to take down constitutionally protected speech.”
Bailey’s testimony focused on Missouri v Biden, a lawsuit filed by his office and the state of Louisiana in May 2022.
The NY Post reported of the lawsuit that, “Missouri and Louisiana have claimed social media sites violated the First Amendment by over-censoring users on social media over topics like COVID and election security.”
The Post’s Miranda Devine wrote that the lawsuit “is uncovering astonishing evidence of an entrenched censorship scheme cooked up between the federal government and Big Tech that would make Communist China proud.”
Bailey and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) "filed for a Motion for Expedited Preliminary Injunction-Related Discovery on June 17, 2022, and that motion was granted on July 12, 2022, clearing the way for Missouri and Louisiana to gather discovery and documents from Biden Administration and social media companies," according to the Missouri AG's website.
"The request for depositions was filed on October 10, 2022, and that motion was granted on October 21, 2022, allowing Missouri and Louisiana to depose top-ranking officials in the federal government under oath," said the website.
The subcommittee hearing, “Churches vs. Casinos: The Constitution is not Suspended in Times of Crisis,” was held June 21, and also featured testimony by Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill; Misha Tseytlin, the former solicitor general of Wisconsin; and, University of Virginia law professor Mica Schwartzmann.
Bhattacharya is a professor of medicine at Stanford University, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and at the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, according to the university website. He holds an MD and PhD from Stanford.
In December 2022, Fox News reported that Bhattacharya was "blacklisted" by Twitter for posting content critical of government "COVID" lockdowns.
Bhattacharya also was critical of government " COVID vaccine" mandates, telling Newsmax TV host Steve Cortes that such mandates are "unethical."
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