Earlier this week a federal judge allowed a case against the Wisconsin State Bar to proceed, following a lawsuit from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). WILL asserts that mandatory membership in the Bar is unconstitutional. Under state law, attorneys are mandated to join the Bar and pay hundreds of dollars in dues each year to practice in Wisconsin. The Bar then uses the dues to fund controversial political activities – thereby violating its members’ First Amendment rights of freedom of association and freedom of speech.

“Mandatory Bar membership and dues were meant to regulate and improve the quality of legal services in the state. They were never supposed to assist the Bar in advancing a political agenda. No citizen should be forced to join and fund a group that advocates for causes with which he or she disagrees,” WILL Associate Counsel Skylar Croy stated.

No one, in any profession, should be forced to join an organization that funds political causes they oppose. Over the years, the Wisconsin State Bar has supported causes such as Black Lives Matter, even though many members disagreed with the radical views espoused by BLM. Mandatory dues are bad enough, but then using that money to advance a particular political agenda is egregiously wrong.

Read more HERE.