Potts

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

This case is a further chapter in the long-running dispute between plaintiffs and the State of California over the State’s prohibitions upon the advertising of dental specialty credentials. Plaintiffs challenge a recently enacted California statute restricting the advertising of dental specialty credentials to those credentials recognized by the American Dental Association (“ADA”) or the Dental Board of California (“Dental Board”). The court previously found that an earlier version of this statute violated the protection afforded to commercial speech by the First Amendment. See Bingham v. Hamilton, 100 F.Supp.2d 1233 (E.D.Cal.2000). This renewed effort to limit the advertising of bona fide credentials fares no better. The advertising of credentials in dental specialties awarded by boards not recognized by the ADA or the Dental Board is not inherently or actually misleading. In addition, even if such advertising were potentially misleading, the statute is more restrictive than necessary to advance the State’s interest in preventing false or misleading advertising of dental specialty credentials. Therefore, the statute violates the First Amendment,…