Court Digest

Louisiana
Appeals court frees attorney from having to join state bar
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana lawyer who objected to the state bar association’s public statements on several issues including health tips and LGBTQ rights can no longer be forced to join or pay dues to the association, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order, dated Monday, blocks the Louisiana State Bar Association from forcing attorney Randy Boudreaux to join the LSBA or pay its dues, at least for now.

The ruling sends the case back to a federal district judge for further action. It appears to leave open the possibility that mandatory membership and dues could be imposed on Boudreaux, if the LSBA no longer takes public positions deemed “non-germane” to the regulation of the legal profession.

Boudreaux’s is one of more than two dozen cases playing out around the country challenging state requirements that attorneys join and pay dues to state bar associations. Organizations including the Goldwater Institute and, in Louisiana, the Pelican Institute, are challenging mandatory bar association membership as violations of free speech rights.

The 5th Circuit ruled in 2021 — in cases out of Louisiana and Texas — that mandatory bar membership can be seen as constitutional under current law and Supreme Court precedent if the bar association is engaged in funding or lobbying for activities that are germane to the regulation of the legal profession or improvement of legal services.

Since then, Monday’s ruling said, LSBA has failed to stay “in its constitutionally prescribed lane.”

“To its credit, the LSBA has stopped much of its objectionable activity,” Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the panel of three judges in the latest ruling. “But despite the LSBA’s scruples, Boudreaux has still identified some examples of non-germane speech.”

Non-germane statements included posts on Twitter — now known as X — on topics including the possible health benefits of walnuts, the need for exercise and the promotion of charitable events, and more contentious issues. The association’s promotion of an article on the effects of student loan debt on young lawyers was not germane, the court found. “If anything, the thrust of the article is backhanded support for student-debt relief, a nakedly political position,” Smith wrote.

The opinion also agrees with Boudreaux’s objections to the bar association promoting “a link to a History.com article about gay rights, along with a large rainbow flag icon that read “LGBT Pride Month.”

The association “can promote inclusion of LGBT individuals in the legal profession — we held that Texas could do that, even if was controversial,” Smith wrote. “But the LSBA may not promote LGBT causes generally, with no connection to the legal profession.”

LSBA President Shayna Sonnier said the group was pleased that the appeals court recognized steps it has taken to meet constitutional standards. “Our leadership is reviewing how best to address the issues identified by the court,” she said.

It was unclear whether either side would appeal any part of the Monday appellate ruling sending the case back to the district court. Scott Freeman, an attorney with the Goldwater Institute, said efforts continue in multiple jurisdictions to fight mandatory bar association membership.

“I expect that the LSBA will argue that it won’t offend again if compulsory membership continues,” New Orleans attorney Dane Ciolino, part of the legal team supporting Boudreaux, said in emailed statements. “But it has said exactly that before and thereafter failed to comply with the First Amendment.”

Smith was nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President Ronald Reagan. Also on the panel were Judge Carolyn Dineen King, nominated by former President Jimmy Carter, and Jennifer Walker Elrod, nominated by former president George W. Bush.

Ohio
State lawmaker accused of hostile behavior will be investigated by outside law firm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The office of Ohio’s Republican attorney general said Monday it has appointed an outside law firm to investigate a Democratic state representative amid claims the lawmaker engaged in a pattern of erratic and abusive behavior toward other legislators, staff and constituents for months.

The investigation into Rep. Elliot Forhan, a Cleveland-area lawyer who was elected to the Ohio House last fall, comes at the request of Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens. It follows months of alleged hostile behavior, according to a memo from House Minority Leader Allison Russo last week.

Russo said her fellow Democrat was reprimanded and given anti-bias training in May after an encounter with a female constituent over a bill he sponsored. However, despite efforts by party leaders to get him to change his behavior, Forhan had additional episodes of “screaming, vulgarity and threats if challenged or coached on any given issue,” Russo’s letter said.

Some of the episodes allegedly involved aggressive rhetoric about the latest Israel-Hamas war, as well as a heated instance in which he allegedly yelled at one of the two Muslim lawmakers in the House, Democratic Rep. Munira Abdullahi, about the war. She declined to comment on the situation.

House Democratic leadership has kicked Forhan off his committee assignments and banned him from contacting legislative staff. His badge access was also revoked for both the Ohio Statehouse and Riffe Center, where state representatives’ offices are located, according to a Nov. 17 letter from the House speaker to Forhan making him aware of the investigation.

Forhan called his treatment by Russo “a political hatchet job,” saying in a letter to Stephens that he was being handled differently than another lawmaker in recent months — Republican Rep. Bob Young — who Forhan said did not have his access restricted and was not banned from contact with staff.

Young was found guilty of domestic violence in October.

Forhan declined to comment further, saying in a brief phone interview Monday that his letter speaks for itself. When asked to comment on Forhan’s letter, Republican spokesperson Pat Melton said the speaker’s office does not comment on pending investigations.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s letter Monday to the firm Perez and Morris said they will be paid $225 per hour and a total of no more than $30,000 to investigate Forhan. A message seeking comment was left with the law firm.

Public officials, including mayors and city council members, are among those in Forhan’s district who asked him to resign Monday. In a joint letter to Forhan, they said he has “lost the ability to effectively function” as a lawmaker and can no longer meet the district’s needs.

The letter said if he did not step down they will ask House leadership to expel him.


Washington
Supreme Court rejects appeal of ex-cop convicted of killing Floyd
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin ‘s appeal of his conviction for second-degree murder in the killing of George Floyd.

The justices did not comment in leaving in place state court rulings affirming Chauvin’s conviction and 22 1/2-year sentence.

Chauvin’s lawyers argued that their client was denied a fair trial in 2021 because of pretrial publicity and concerns for violence in the event of an acquittal.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism that is still playing out.

Chauvin is separately appealing his conviction on federal civil rights charges.

Nevada
Election-fraud crusader loses lawsuit battle against county
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada election-fraud crusader’s attempt to to sue Washoe County over alleged election fraud has now been rejected in state court.

Judge James Russell in Reno dismissed the latest suit Monday in Robert Beadles’ feud with the county with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile it. He also ordered the wealthy ex-California businessman and right-wing activist to cover the other side’s legal fees.

Russell referenced a state law that permits attorneys’ fees be paid to “deter frivolous or vexatious claims.”

But the judge did not sanction Beadles as requested in a motion from the Washoe District Attorney’s Office, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.

Beadles told the newspaper he plans to appeal his case.

The defeat comes three months after Beadles withdrew a federal lawsuit. Lawyers for county officials threatened to seek sanctions for filing a baseless complaint laced with “rantings of a conspiracy theorist.”

Beadles has embraced many Republicans’ disproven claims of election fraud. He is affiliated with the conservative blog Operation Sunlight. He has helped lead attempts to recall or otherwise oust numerous county officials since he moved to Reno from Lodi, Nevada, in 2019.

He claims the election system is rife with “flaws and irregularities” that robbed him of his vote in 2020. He lost another lawsuit last year that sought heightened observation of Washoe County’s vote-counting process.

Beadles has been aligned in the past with another election-fraud crusader, Reno lawyer Joey Gilbert, who lost the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary to now Gov. Joe Lombardo.

A judge in Carson City ordered Gilbert last year to pay $88,000 in sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit with no admissible evidence pressing his claims he really won the nomination.

Kansas
Federal judge grants injunction banning ‘Kansas Two-Step’ Highway Patrol tactic
The Kansas Highway Patrol must stop using a tactic known as the “Kansas Two-Step” to detain out-of-state drivers long enough to find a reason to search their vehicles for illegal drugs, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil on Monday granted a permanent injunction. The injunction was not unexpected. It follows Vratil’s ruling in July that determined that the tactic violated drivers’ constitutional rights against unreasonable searches.

KHP spokeswoman Candice Breshears said the order is being reviewed by the state attorney general’s office and declined further comment. A message left Tuesday with the office of Attorney General Kris Kobach was not immediately returned.

The injunction has several requirements, including cameras and audio for all marked and unmarked patrol cars. It also says troopers must inform drivers that they can refuse or revoke consent for a search at any time. The injunction also requires better training and documentation.

With the “Two-Step,” troopers finish the initial traffic stop, issuing a ticket or a warning, and start to walk away, then turn back to talk more to the driver. That allows them to keep looking for grounds for a vehicle search or to buy time for drug-sniffing dogs to arrive.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of three drivers and two passengers traveling in 2017, 2018 and 2019 from neighboring Colorado, which has legalized recreational marijuana use. The judge concluded that the patrol targeted drivers traveling along Interstate 70 to or from states that have legalized either the medical or recreational use of marijuana. Kansas has authorized neither.