Louisiana Attorney’s Suit to Avoid Paying Bar Dues Fails

An attorney’s constitutional challenges to the Louisiana State Bar Association’s mandatory dues was dismissed by a federal district court.

Randy Boudreaux claimed that compelled membership in the LSBA and LSBA’s collection of mandatory dues to subsidize its speech violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and free association. He also claimed LSBA didn’t provide adequate safeguards to ensure the collected dues aren’t used for impermissible activities.

Dismissing Boudreaux’s first claim, Judge Lance M. Africk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana said that U.S. Supreme Court precedent makes clear that states can condition the right ...