A First Amendment Win for Lone Star State Lawyers

Thomas A. Berry andStacy HansonSinceJanus v. AFSCME was decided in 2018, workers across the country have exercised their newfound freedom to no longer subsidize union speech against their will. But although Janus liberated unionized government employees from compelled dues, other professionals have not yet won a similar freedom. A particularly stark example is the legal profession; lawyers nationwide remain forced to pay membership dues to ideologically dominated state bar associations in order to practice law.The disconnect betweenJanus and the legal profession stems from two Supreme Court precedents that weren ’t explicitly overruled byJanus:Lathrop v. Donohue (1961) andKeller v. State Bar of California (1990).Lathrop held that lawyers may be mandated to join a bar association that solely regulates the legal profession and improves the quality of legal services, whileKeller clarified that lawyers ’ mandatory dues could not be used to fund activities of an ideological nature that are non‐​germane to regulating the legal profession and improving the quality of legal services.Severalrecentlawsuits have highlighted the need, in the aftermath ofJanus, to re ‐​evaluate the constitutionality of compelling lawyers to sacrifice their freedoms of association and speech to work in the legal profession. Last week, the Fifth Circuit took up that task when it decidedMcDonald v. Longley.The Fifth Circuit addressed issues left unresolved byKeller: whether a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs