Judge: state psychology board can’t regulate advice column

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A federal judge has ruled the state of Kentucky’s effort to censor a newspaper advice column because its author is not a state-licensed psychologist amounts to an unconstitutional restriction of free speech.

The ruling issued late Wednesday by Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove in Frankfort resolves a two-year legal battle by parenting columnist John Rosemond.

The state’s Board of Examiners of Psychology had told Rosemond to stop identifying himself as a psychologist, and questioned his column’s occasional use of a question-and-answer format because it said that was akin to offering direct mental health services.

Rosemond, who is a licensed psychologist in his home state of North Carolina, sued with assistance from the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Justice in federal court to stop the board from taking action against him.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.