Opinion ID: 2226822
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lawyers Wives and Children's Charter

Text: Petitioner also objects to the use of Bar funds to promote legal services and to inform the public of the availability and need of legal services. He similarly objects to the use of Bar revenues to fund Lawyers Wives [35] and Children's Charter. [36] Petitioner claims that the use of mandatory Bar dues monies to promote the above activities violates his First Amendment right of association. For example, petitioner, as an unmarried attorney, has no interest in Lawyers Wives whatsoever. Being an attorney, petitioner would also have no need to be informed of the availability of legal services. Nevertheless we hold that the services performed by Lawyers Wives, Children's Charter and the Bar public education communications are germane to the state's interest in improving the administration of justice. A legal system, no matter how fair or just, is of little value if no one knows of its existence or how to effectively use it. By providing the public with pamphlets explaining various areas of the law in easily understandable language the State Bar is helping Michigan citizens gain effective access to the legal system. Similarly when Lawyers Wives volunteer their time and effort to distribute brochures to school children, conduct Law Day essay contests and serve probate and juvenile courts they are aiding the state legal system. We therefore find that the expenditure of State Bar dues revenue on public communication, Lawyers Wives and Children's Charter is germane to the state's compelling interest in promoting improvements in the administration of justice and advancements in the science of jurisprudence. (9) State Bar Social Functions and Judicial Attendance Petitioner claims the State Bar violates his First Amendment rights of association by expending some of his mandatory dues on offering food and beverages on particular occasions such as the State of the Judiciary Address and Law Day. He also complains that justices and other judges improperly are present at some of these occasions. To begin with, there is no original jurisdiction in this Court to consider the alleged judicial improprieties, and petitioner is advised to seek the proper forum. The problem of juxtaposing the majesty of the First Amendment with a minor complaint such as petitioner's about the offering of food and beverages is that there is a danger of focusing on whether the minor activity rises to the dignity of being a compelling state interest, which, of course, it is not. The pertinent question, however, is whether the minor activity is germane to a more significant activity which fulfills a compelling state interest. Obviously one can easily imagine dining occasions which have no relationship to the administration of justice or the advancement of jurisprudence whatsoever. Expenditure of funds for these would be offensive not only to the First Amendment but Rule 1. On the other hand, there are other dining occasions that support activities germane to the State Bar's performance of its duties in the improvement of the administration of justice and the advancement of jurisprudence. With that in mind let us focus, for example, on one of petitioner's objections, dining functions in connection with Law Day. We can take judicial notice that in connection with Law Day there is an essay contest about law-related subjects for young students. The statewide winners, their parents and teachers are brought to Lansing to a Bar-sponsored luncheon attended by prominent attorneys and judges. The highlight of the occasion, of course, is the presentation of awards to the young winners. Is the use of mandatory bar dues monies for such an occasion germane to the administration of justice? We have already determined that educational programs acquainting the public with the operation and availability of the justice system is germane to the administration of justice. A luncheon of the kind just described is certainly a legitimate expense in the fulfillment of such an objective and therefore germane to the administration of justice. We therefore hold that expenditure of mandatory bar dues for the holding of social functions by the State Bar is not per se an invasion of petitioner's First Amendment rights. Such expenditures may be constitutionally permissible if in support of a social function which is a legitimate part of a Bar activity germane to the administration of justice or the advancement of jurisprudence. For example, those in connection with the State of the Judiciary Address and Law Day, if otherwise proper, do not offend petitioner's First Amendment rights. (10) Support of Judicial Salaries Before SOCC Petitioner argues that the appearance by State Bar representatives before the State Officers Compensation Commission (SOCC) to support higher judicial salaries, including salaries of members of this Court, is unlawful and improper. Petitioner claims that the expenditure of Bar resources to send a person to the SOCC is unnecessary to the Bar's regulatory function and therefore violates his First Amendment rights of association and speech. He also argues that permitting the State Bar to lobby for higher wages for judges is improper since it violates Canon 2(A) of the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct [37] as constituting an appearance of impropriety. As to this last objection, we have already indicated that the Supreme Court is an inappropriate forum in which to initiate such a complaint. Employment of competent jurists is essential for the effective administration of justice. We take judicial notice that several years ago this country was concerned with the number of eminent federal judges who were resigning due to inadequate salaries. Congress has repeatedly found it necessary to raise the salary of federal judges in order to not only attract, but retain, the top minds of the legal profession who would otherwise engage in private practice. The Michigan Legislature established the SOCC to ensure that top positions in the public sector, such as judges, would be able to compete with the private sector for well qualified and dedicated men and women. By paying competitive salaries the SOCC ensures that the state is not handicapped in drawing and maintaining able jurists. We see nothing improper in the State Bar aiding the state in determining what salaries are necessary to have an effective judiciary, for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Luke 10:7. Permitting the State Bar to express its position concerning increases in judicial salaries, whether in favor or opposed, is germane to the state's compelling interest in the administration of justice. (11) Use of State Bar's Mailing List for Commercial Purposes Finally, petitioner contests the use by the State Bar of its mailing list for commercial purposes. He maintains that he is an unwilling recipient of junk mail resulting from State Bar commercial mailings in violation of his right to privacy. The Bar admits that it mails insurance and travel company solicitations to Bar members but claims that it carefully screens the use of the list and takes various safeguards, such as never allowing the list to leave its possession, to ensure that only commercial offers of interest to the general membership will be mailed. Respondent also insists that both the individual attorney and the State Bar receive a benefit from the programs since the Bar is totally reimbursed for its mailing service while individual attorneys receive the benefit of group rates which would otherwise be unavailable. Finally the Bar maintains that there is no right not to receive mail, claiming that the right to privacy does not apply here in any event: [A]ny intrusion is minimal inasmuch as anyone not wishing to receive such mail may certainly discard it without opening it, since the nature of the communication is clearly indicated on the outside of the envelope. We disagree. Rowan v United States Post Office Dep't, 397 US 728; 90 S Ct 1484; 25 L Ed 2d 736 (1970), which upheld Title III of the Postal Revenue and Federal Salary Act of 1967, 39 USC 4009, now recodified as 39 USC 3008, [38] against constitutional attack, provides guidance on this issue. Although the challenged statute was enacted in order to give recipients of obscene mail the power to remove their names from such mailing lists, Rowan, supra, 731-734, the Supreme Court took a broader approach. Chief Justice Burger, writing the opinion for the unanimous Court, noted: Without doubt the public postal system is an indispensable adjunct of every civilized society and communication is imperative to a healthy social order. But the right of every person `to be let alone' must be placed in the scales with the right of others to communicate. In today's complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail. To make the householder the exclusive and final judge of what will cross his threshold undoubtedly has the effect of impeding the flow of ideas, information, and arguments that, ideally, he should receive and consider. Today's merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman's mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive.    [T]he mailer's right to communicate is circumscribed only by an affirmative act of the addressee giving notice that he wishes no further mailings from that mailer. To hold less would tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring communication and thus bar its entering his home. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit; we see no basis for according the printed word or pictures a different or more preferred status because they are sent by mail. The ancient concept that `a man's home is his castle' into which `not even the king may enter' has lost none of its vitality, and none of the recognized exceptions includes any right to communicate offensively with another. See Camara v Municipal Court, 387 US 523 [87 S Ct 1727; 18 L Ed 2d 930] (1967). Rowan, supra, 736-737. Petitioner's right to privacy, to be let alone, inherently includes the power to have some discretion in what enters his home through the mail. Congress recognized this in passing 39 USC 3008, thereby giving the addressee the authority to stop mailings to his home which he, in his sole discretion believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative. The Supreme Court expanded this power, if only by dicta, to allow the addressee to strike his name from any mailing list. To require the Bar to honor petitioner's request to remove his name from the commercial mailing list would require the burden and added expense of keeping two mailing lists. Depending on how many attorneys opt for removal of their names the Bar may, or may not, be able to maintain the group rates it now provides for its members. Even though petitioner can easily identify the soliciting mailing by its clearly marked envelopes, thereby lessening the intrusion into his privacy, he has the right to demand that his name be excluded from mass merchandising mailing lists since the state cannot be said to be promoting the administration of justice or advancing the science of jurisprudence through this type of mailing. [39] V. CONCLUSION Petitioner has failed to prove a case for relief in any of the specific categories set forth in his complaint and briefs except for item 11 relating to the sale of the use of the State Bar mailing roster. (But see fn 8.) Therefore the State Bar shall, on petitioner's request, remove his name from the roster sold for commercial use. With respect to all other challenges petitioner's request for relief is denied. No costs, a public question being involved.