Judge Confirms: Oregon Engineer Has a First Amendment Right to Call Himself an Engineer

[Michael Farrauto]

Here's a recent ruling up here in Oregon.
How long until this BS spreads?
Guess who's next?

The link to the full article is below:

A federal judge has ruled that the Oregon Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying violated the First Amendment when it tried to fine Mats Järlström—an Oregonian with a degree in engineering and years of experience in the field—for describing himself as "an engineer."

"The regulation of the title 'enginneer' is more burdensome than necessary to protect the public from the unlicensed practice of engineering," wrote Beckerman. "The record demonstrates that the threat to free expression is not merely hypothetical."

Those regulations and enforcement actions, Beckerman ruled, are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment. The judge directed the board to remove the definition of "engineer" from its rules and to limit its enforcement to individuals who falsely claim to be a "professional engineer."

The ruling means that "thousands of Oregon engineers are now free to describe themselves—truthfully—as 'engineers,' without fear of government punishment," says Sam Gedge, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that represented Järlström in the lawsuit against the board.

https://reason-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v ... gineer-has

[land butcher]

Does that include Stationary Engineers?

[dedkad]

Michael, what is BS about it? Are you upset that their licensing board overstepped their bounds by trying to regulate the term "engineer" or are you upset that the court overruled that?

[E_Page]

You have to read the case or know the background to get the context. The guy had a valid degree in electrical engineering and had been a licensed engineer in his native Sweden. He was offering his self description as an engineer to give context in that he was trained to do the calculations he made on his own and for himself of traffic light duration. He did not claim to be a licensed engineer in OR. Nor did he use the term to mislead anyone to provide services for others or in any way for his own enrichment.

I think it's a good ruling.