Before his tenure ended in 2019, Texas State Bar President Joe Longley asked State Attorney General Ken Paxton to issue an opinion on two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Janus v. AFSCME and Fleck v. Wetch.
The Janus decision restored First Amendment rights to government employees by ruling that they cannot be compelled to pay dues to public-sector unions. Fleck, which challenged the mandatory fees paid by attorneys to state bars, was remanded to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration because of the Janus ruling.
What Longley wanted to know was whether or not state bar members can be compelled to pay dues that finance political advocacy they disagree with and support subgroups in which they have no voting rights.
For whatever reason, incoming State Bar President Randy Sorrels declined to pursue the question asked by his predecessor. That would have been the end of that, had not three Texas attorneys – Tony McDonald, Joshua Hammer, and Mark Pulliam – filed suit against the Bar, alleging First Amendment rights violations and citing Janus.
Among other things, the three plaintiffs objected to having to help finance the Bar’s nonessential functions, such as “diversity” initiatives and legislative lobbying.
Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel granted summary judgment to the Bar.
“Because the Bar has adequate procedural safeguards in place to protect against compelled speech and because mandatory Bar membership and compulsory fees do not otherwise violate the First Amendment, Plaintiffs’ claim that the Bar unconstitutionally coerces them into funding allegedly non-chargeable activities without a meaningful opportunity to object necessarily fails as a matter of law,” Yeakel concluded.
Needless to say, current Bar President Sorrels was “very pleased with Judge Yeakel’s measured and thoughtful decision.”
The plaintiffs – and other Texas attorneys sick and tired of seeing professional fees diverted to the pet projects and propaganda programs of political opponents – were displeased with the ruling.
The Roman god Janus looks backward and forward. Yeakel’s ruling, a temporary setback, is already in the past. It will not stand.