Victory! AZ Supreme Court Says State Bar Can’t Force Lawyers to Pay for Politics

The Goldwater Institute has scored a victory for attorneys’ First Amendment rights, stopping the Arizona State Bar from forcing its members to pay for lobbying activities as a condition of practicing law.

Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court announced it would amend its rules to eliminate the State Bar’s authority to levy membership dues for non-regulatory functions—i.e., activities that have nothing to do with the regulation of the legal profession. The decision came in response to a Goldwater Institute petition urging the state high court to bring its rules in line with constitutional protections.

After all, both the U.S. Constitution and Arizona Constitution protect the freedom of association, ensuring the government cannot compel anyone to fund ideologies they oppose as a condition of earning a living. Yet numerous states force lawyers to join bar associations and to pay dues that subsidize the bar’s activities, which often are politically slanted and unrelated to the practice of law. For example, the State Bar of Arizona spends significant time and money on a magazine called Arizona Attorney, which publishes issues dedicated to the arts and general wellness. The Bar has also engaged in lobbying activities and has taken positions on legislative proposals.

But now, the State Bar of Arizona is prohibited from engaging in any lobbying activities. In fact, it may only conduct activities “necessarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of regulating the legal profession or improving the quality of legal services available to people of the State of Arizona.”

This is a victory for the First Amendment rights of lawyers in Arizona, and it will save attorneys from incurring unnecessary costs that inevitably are passed on to their clients. Focusing the Bar on regulatory functions will help improve the quality of legal services and access to justice for all Arizonans.

Lawyers, like all Americans, enjoy the constitutional protections of free association, and they cannot be compelled to fund speech with which they may disagree. The Supreme Court’s amended rules represent a big step toward protecting these fundamental rights.

Read the rule change here.

Stacy Skankey is a Staff Attorney at the Goldwater Institute.