In re Hale
Illinois Appellate Court for the Third District
436 B.R. 125 (Bankr. E.D. Cal. 2010)
Relevant factsFree
Matthew Hale (defendant), head of the white-supremacist World Church of the Creator, applied for admission to the Illinois bar after passing the exam; although he told the Committee on Character and Fitness he would uphold the constitutions and not discriminate based on race, the Committee declined to approve his application given his organization's promotion of racial superiority, and Hale appealed on First Amendment grounds.
IssueFree
In Illinois, may an attorney be constitutionally prohibited from being admitted to the state's bar for his vocal advocacy of racist beliefs?
Related cases
Baird v. State Bar of Arizona401 U.S. 1 (1971)Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada501 U.S. 1030 (1991)Florida Department of Children and Families v. Adoption of X.X.G. and N.R.G.45 So.3d 79 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2010)Regents of the University of California v. Bakke438 U.S. 265 (1978)Sweatt v. Painter339 U.S. 629 (1950)