High Court Won’t Hear Texas Case Over Mandatory Bar Dues

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a ruling that the mandatory State Bar of Texas violates the associational and free speech rights of attorneys when it engages in activities not “germane” to improving the legal profession, such as funding legislative efforts.

Plaintiffs Tony K. McDonald, Joshua B. Hammer, and Mark S. Pulliam, three members of the Texas bar, say they can’t be forced to support to subsidize those non-germane activities. They also argue that the state bar makes it too difficult to get a refund of the dues that go to support non-germane activities.

The U.S. Court of ...