Kingstad v. State Bar of Wisconsin, No. 09-4080 (7th Cir. Wisc., Sept. 9, 2010)
Before BAUER, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.
HAMILTON, Circuit Judge.
To practice law in the State of Wisconsin, lawyers must join the Wisconsin State Bar. To join the State Bar, lawyers must pay State Bar dues. For more than fifty years, this system has been generating First Amendment litigation, and this case is the latest installment. In 2007, the State Bar used a portion of members’ dues to conduct a public image campaign with the goal of improving the public’s perception of Wisconsin lawyers.
Petitioners Jon Kingstad, Steven Levine, and James Thiel (collectively, the “Objectors”) objected to the State Bar’s use of their mandatory dues to fund the campaign as a violation of their rights under the First Amendment. Their objection was first heard by a state arbitrator, who ruled in favor of the State Bar. The Objectors appealed to a state trial court, and the State Bar removed their appeal to the federal courts.
The parties consented to having their case heard by Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker, who upheld the arbitrator’s determination. The petitioners now appeal to this court. We hold that to withstand scrutiny under the First Amendment, State Bar expenditures funded by mandatory dues must be germane to the legitimate purposes of the State Bar. In doing so, we overrule one of the alternative holdings of Thiel v. State Bar of Wisconsin, 94 F.3d 399, 405 (7th Cir. 1996), in light of more recent teachings. Because the public image campaign at issue in this case is germane to those constitutionally legitimate purposes, however, we affirm the judgment in favor of the state bar.
