The wacky U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down mandatory bar association dues for activities not directly related to regulating the legal profession.
Rebellious Louisiana lawyers win a round!
The case centers on LSBA (Louisiana State Bar Association) activities that go beyond its core function of regulating the state's 20,000 attorneys, all of which are required by the state to join the privately run bar association. Louisiana is among a dozen states that mandate bar association membership.
The ancillary activities, known as "nongermane" activities, involve everything from advocating public policy positions to encouraging religious observations to promoting charities, to life coaching, and other often politically controversial activities beyond the scope of regulating lawyers.
The Seventh Circuit last year upheld Wisconsin's mandatory membership and fee structure, despite the glaring inconsistencies between the way the state bar and unions are treated. In its 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory union dues for collective bargaining violate public employees’ free speech rights.
The Seventh Circuit. though, said it would follow 1990 precedent, Keller v. State Bar of California, until SCOTUS said differently. In Keller, the high court said mandatory fees were hunky dory for "activities to regulate the legal profession and improve the quality of legal services but not for unrelated political or ideological activities," according to the ABA Journal.
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