Opinion ID: 1247623
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Bar Officers' Speeches and Public Information Programs

Text: Plaintiffs do not object to publication of bar officers' speeches or public information programs in general. Generally, insofar as publication of speeches or information programs serves the state's interest in advancing the delivery of quality legal services to the public or improving the legal profession, the bar may fund such activities with objecting members' mandatory dues. If such activities do serve these interests, the court would have to determine whether the challenged expenditures interfere with objecting members' First Amendment rights beyond the interference inherent in compulsory bar membership. If they do, the court would then determine if the challenged expenditures are nonetheless justified by some other sufficient governmental interest. I do agree, however, with the majority that President-elect Anthony Murray's speech and the public education materials, by virtue of their content and timing, constituted the adoption of a specific position in a public election. Consequently, I agree that, as a matter of law, such election activities were not legally authorized expenditures under our decision in Stanson v. Mott, supra, 17 Cal.3d 206. That being so, no further analysis of those expenditures under the First Amendment is necessary.