California

SCOTUS May Soon Determine If California Can Force Doctors To Learn About 'Implicit Bias'

A Supreme Court petition challenges California’s attempt to force private medical instructors to teach “implicit bias.”

Reem Ibrahim | 9.18.2026 8:30 AM

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(V1 Photo: Serhii Hryshchyshen/Dreamstime.)

California is notorious for intrusive laws, but when it comes to the medical field, regulatory growth is particularly sprawling. 

As a condition of license renewal, California physicians must log 50 hours of approved continuing medical education (CME) courses every two years. In 2022, the Golden State started requiring physicians involved in direct patient care to take CME courses that include training on implicit bias, which the state defines as the "attitudes or internalized stereotypes that affect our perceptions, actions, and decisions," contributing to "unequal treatment of people based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, and other characteristics."

This requirement violates free speech, according to a group of California doctors who are asking the Supreme Court to hear their case and declare the law unconstitutional. The justices are scheduled to consider the petition at their September 28 conference.

One of the plaintiffs, Azadeh Khatibi, is an Iranian-born physician who moved to the U.S. when she was 6. After completing her joint medical degree program at the University of California (U.C.), San Francisco, and U.C., Berkeley, she became an ophthalmology specialist in Los Angeles. She has taught CME courses in California for several years.

"I think it is dangerous for the state to mandate the speech of physicians when they are teaching other physicians, and for the state to........

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