
Left: Elena Kagan (Mark Wilson/Getty Images). Center: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hosts a fireside chat (John Lamparski/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images). Right: Clarence Thomas (YouTube/Library of Congress).
Basketball legend John Stockton asked Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to help run a screen as he attempted to revive a foiled First Amendment lawsuit involving COVID-19 regulations.
In March, the Gonzaga great, along with various other plaintiffs, filed a federal lawsuit in Stockton’s native Washington against the state’s Attorney General Robert Ferguson and the executive director of the Washington Medical Commission over sanctions targeting “physicians who speak out against the mainstream Covid narrative.”
In May, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington denied the motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed the case. An appeal was lodged with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — where briefing is ongoing. In September, the appellate court denied a request to issue an injunction pending appeal.
In October, Stockton and his co-plaintiffs asked Justice Elena Kagan for an injunction pending appeal — which she blocked without a word on Wednesday. Now, the plaintiffs want to pass the ball to a justice they believe has a better stat line on First Amendment issues.