White supremacist continues fight for law license
By The Associated Press
05.15.02
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — White supremacist Matthew Hale has already taken his battle to practice law to the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Now he's adding the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to the list.
A legal brief filed with the Chicago-based appeals court last week contends U.S. District Judge John Darrah erred in March when he issued an opinion dismissing a lawsuit Hale had filed in June 2001.
Hale, 30, wants to have his lawsuit reinstated and contends he has never had a hearing on its claim — that denying him a law license violates the First Amendment. The East Peoria resident graduated from law school and has passed the Illinois State Bar examination.
Hale's lawsuit named as defendants the Illinois Supreme Court, the court's Committee on Character and Fitness and the Board of Admissions to the Bar.
The Committee on Character and Fitness, which evaluates applicants' moral fitness to practice law, denied his application in 1998. It said that Hale's belief in racial discrimination is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of Illinois' professional conduct rules for lawyers.
Hale, who lives in East Peoria, leads the segregationist World Church of the Creator.
The church received national attention when former member Benjamin Smith went on a shooting spree targeting minorities, killing two people and injuring several others before killing himself.