Washington Legal Foundation v. Friedman
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
13 F. Supp. 2d 51 (1998)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) (plaintiff), a nonprofit public-interest law and policy center challenged on First Amendment grounds Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Guidance Documents regulating drug manufacturers’ sponsorship of continuing medical educational seminars and distribution of enduring materials such as article reprints and textbooks encouraging physicians’ off-label prescription of drugs. The FDA argued that its policies in its Guidance Documents restrained conduct and not speech, and therefore the manufacturers’ activities were not entitled to First Amendment protection. The FDA also argued that its expansive authority to regulate the pharmaceutical industry rendered the speech its Guidance Documents regulated outside the ambit of the First Amendment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lamberth, J.)
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