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This month, we’ve asked the U.S. Supreme Court to once again take up the case of Arnold Fleck, the North Dakota attorney whose First Amendment rights have been violated for years by state laws forcing him to join and to pay annual dues to the State Bar Association of North Dakota (SBAND).
Bar associations like SBAND aren’t to be confused with the bar exam, which is the licensing requirement lawyers must satisfy. Bar associations are clubs—trade associations that engage in a wide variety of activities, including lobbying the government. Fleck argues that forcing him to join SBAND violates his freedom of association, and forcing him to pay it annual dues—which in the past it has spent on political campaigns as well as lobbying—violates his free speech rights.
Fleck appealed to the Supreme Court, which only months later announced its ruling in the Janus case, which held that the Constitution forbids states from forcing public employees to join unions, and also that people have a constitutional right to decide whether to contribute to their political spending—and that the mere option of a refund isn’t good enough.
We’re hoping the Supreme Court will take up the case of Arnold Fleck—and of thousands of lawyers who are today forced to join these private trade associations and to subsidize what’s often their politically charged activities. Read more about Fleck’s case and how the Goldwater Institute is defending his First Amendment rights here.
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