In a 3-0 ruling, the court said the law was so broad and undefined that lawyers wouldn't know when they were violating it. The panel granted a rehearing last December to give the state and the State Bar, not previously parties, a chance to defend the law. They also said the law merely enforced an ethical code that lawyers were required to know as part of their profession. The court was unpersuaded, AP said, reaffirming its previous decision in a 2-1 ruling. The case involved a disciplinary order against attorney Frank L. Swan, who wrote an angry note in May 1993 to a female prosecutor who had gotten him removed from a case.
Female lawyers are outside the law, cloud truth and destroy order.
The American Civil Liberties Union defended Swan. The National Organization for Women was among those opposing him.