Prospective lawyers suing Michigan bar over 'moral character' rule

By The Associated Press

06.10.01

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DETROIT— Two students are suing the State Bar of Michigan in federal court, seeking to delete or clarify a state requirement that new lawyers must be of "good moral character."

The prospective lawyers say in sworn statements that they've criticized judges and participated in numerous protests against neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

Lawyers for the unnamed pair say the case presents a compelling legal question: Can people be denied the right to practice law if they criticize judges or harshly attack the legal system?

The students have asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds for a temporary restraining order that would prevent the bar from denying them a license to practice law.

The students said they didn't want their names to be made public because of possible retaliation by the bar or law schools. One of the students has enrolled in an unidentified Michigan law school and plans to begin studies this fall. The other intends to attend law school if the suit succeeds.

Their case comes after a 5-2 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court that Warren District Judge John Chmura didn't violate judicial ethics rules when he ran untruthful campaign ads in 1996. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission had recommended an unpaid suspension for 90 days.

"Apparently only Republican judges can exercise their First Amendment rights," said Robert Horvath, a Bloomfield Hills attorney for the two college students. "The State Bar shouldn't be in the business of deciding what is good moral character."

State Bar President Thomas J. Ryan called the challenge "a real longshot."

University of Michigan law professor Richard Friedman said the bar group was entitled to ensure that lawyers are of good character, as long as it didn't abuse that discretion.

"The market for lawyers isn't like the market for gallons of milk. Buyers are at a disadvantage," Friedman told The Detroit News last week. "Clients have a right to expect that their lawyer is of good moral character."

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