Louisiana Bar Association Prevails in Attorney’s Dues Challenge

The Louisiana State Bar Association convinced a federal court in Louisiana to throw out a lawsuit by a lawyer alleging its requirement to provide dues is unconstitutional.

Attorney Randy Boudreaux filed the initial suit in 2019, alleging that the State Bar’s requirements violate his First and 14th Amendment rights. In 2020, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed the case, and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded back to the lower court.

Judge Lance M. Africk rejected Boudreaux’s first claim, alleging that required membership in the group violates his constitutional rights even if the LSBA engages only in germane activities, as foreclosed by recent Fifth Circuit precedent.

Africk further held that many of the specifically challenged activities in this case, including multiple LSBA tweets promoting physical and mental well-being, are germane to improving the quality of legal services in Louisiana. The court found that Boudreaux’s disagreement with the wellness tweets didn’t mean they were non-germane.

Even the tweets that bordered on non-germane didn’t constitute a “major activity” such that it could be a constitutional violation, according to the appeals court’s ruling on Monday.

SBA President Stephen I. Dwyer said he is “pleased that Judge Africk has dismissed this lawsuit.”

“The Court has affirmed that the LSBA’s activities, expenditures, and procedures are consistent with existing constitutional standards,” Dwyer wrote in a public statement Monday. “We respect the Judge’s adherence to precedent. The LSBA will continue to serve its members and the public through the regulation of the legal profession and the improvement of the quality of legal services.”

Boudreaux is represented by Dane S. Ciolino LLC and others.

The case is Boudreaux v. Louisiana State Bar Ass’n, E.D. La., No. 2:19-cv-11962, 8/8/22.