Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-87-01811/USCOURTS-ca10-87-01811-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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FILED . United States Court of Appeals 

Tenth Circuit 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

FEB O 1 1989 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

MAYO SOMMERMEYER, ) 

) 

Plaintiff-Appellant, ) 

) 

V • ) 

) 

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF) 

WYOMING, RICHARD V. THOMAS, ) 

Chief, C. STUART BROWN, G. )" 

JOSEPH CARDINE, WALTER C. ) 

URBIGKIT, JR., RICHARD J. ) 

MACY, Justices of the ) 

Supreme Court, ) 

) 

Defendants-Appellees. ) 

No. 87-1811 

(D.C. No. C86-0160-B) 

( D. Wyo.) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT 

Before.TACHA, and SETH, Circuit Judges, and SAFFELS, District 

Judge. 

This is an appeal from an order of the district court 

upholding the rules of the Wyoming Supreme Court which required 

that an attorney be a resident of the State of Wyoming _ in order to 

be eligible for admission to the bar on motion instead of by 

taking a bar examination. Plaintiff Sommermeyer challenges the 

residency requirement on the grounds that it violates the 

privileges and immunities clause of article 4, section 2 of the 

federal constitution. In our view this case is controlled by the 

* Honorable Dale E. Saffels, United States District Judge for 

the District of Kansas, sitting by designation. 

Appellate Case: 87-1811 Document: 01019962594 Date Filed: 02/01/1989 Page: 1 
recent United States Supreme Court decision in Supreme Court of 

Virginia v. Friedman, 108 S. Ct. 2260 (1988}. Ba·sed upon that 

decision we hold that Wyoming Supreme Court Rule 5(c} is 

unconstitutional, and reverse and remand to the district court 

with instructions to enter an order directing that the appropriate 

official in the State of Wyoming admit plaintiff to th~ bar of the 

state . 

·-2.-

ENTERED FOR · THE COURT 

Deanell Reece Tacha 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 87-1811 Document: 01019962594 Date Filed: 02/01/1989 Page: 2