Oklahoma Bar Sees Constitutional Challenge to Dues Reinstated

A lawsuit claiming the Oklahoma Bar Association’s mandatory bar dues violate attorneys’ First Amendment rights to freedom of association was revived after the Tenth Circuit found Tuesday the group might engage in ideological activities unrelated to its core purpose.

The lower court failed to analyze whether all the bar group’s activities “were germane to regulating the legal profession and improving the quality of legal services in Oklahoma,” the appeals court said.

Although two articles cited in support of the challenge and published by the Oklahoma Bar Journal weren’t in the record, lawyer Mark E. Schell plausibly alleges “the articles strayed ...