Court Opinion

ID: 9523471
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:42:55.244626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:49.547499
License: Public Domain

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority holds that the district court abused its discretion when analyzing whether to grant the director’s request that respondent reveal the identities of his sources. Furthermore, the majority concludes that the director’s request was reasonable and should have been granted. I agree with the standard the majority sets out for analyzing requests under Rule 25(a), Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR) and that the district court’s analysis of this issue was flawed. Despite this, I respectfully dissent because my review of the record leads me to conclude that the director’s request was unreasonable.
As the majority states, when a court evaluates whether a Rule 25(a) request is reasonable, it “should ask whether the request is rationally related to the charges of professional misconduct or to a lawyer’s defense to those charges and whether the request is unduly burdensome in light of the gravity and complexity of the charges.” The director’s request for the identity of respondent’s sources must therefore be analyzed in light of the nature of the charges of professional misconduct against respondent. I agree with the majority that, in order to demonstrate that respondent violated Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 8.2(a), the director must show by clear and convincing evidence that respondent (1) made a false statement, (2) which concerned the qualifications or integrity of a judge, and (3) that respondent either knew this statement was false or acted with reckless disregard to its truth or falsity. The identity of respondent’s sources is principally related to the third element of a Rule 8.2(a) violation.
While I concede that the identity of the sources is clearly rationally related to the charges against respondent and respondent’s potential defenses, in light of information already available to the director for a case against respondent, I conclude that the director’s request is unreasonable and “disproportionate to the gravity and complexity of the alleged ethical violation! ].” See Rule 25(a), RLPR. Whether an objective standard or a subjective “actual malice” standard is used for Rule 8.2(a) violations, on this record the director has ample evidence to allege a violation of Rule 8.2(a).1 Respondent’s August 2002 statement, alleging that the incumbent judge had a “backlog of undecided and unfinished cases * * * larger than all of the other district judges combined” can be construed as inherently incredible in light of the fact that between 29 and 33 judges *820were in the incumbent judge’s district when the statement was released. Moreover, respondent concedes that he “modified” this statement the next month in a subsequent press release stating “[t]he problem with my opponent’s performance as a judge is that she doesn’t show up, and she doesn’t do the work. She has a high rate of absenteeism, and has a history of not making timely decisions and carrying a load of unfinished cases on her desk.” This modification provides further evidence to support an allegation of respondent’s knowledge or reckless disregard of the falsity of the August statement. Given this evidence, the district court did not err in denying the director’s request to learn the identity of respondent’s sources.2 I would affirm the district court although on other grounds.

. Although I conclude that the evidence here is sufficient for the director to allege a violation of the applicable rule, that conclusion should not be construed as an endorsement of the wisdom of disciplinary action under these facts. The decision to pursue disciplinary action is a discretionary decision by the director, see Rule 7(d), RLPR, and that discretion is informed by many factors including but not limited to the gravity of the alleged offense, likely defenses, and the appropriate use of office resources.

. At oral argument, respondent requested that this matter be remanded to the district court with instructions for the court to conduct an examination, in camera, of respondent’s two sources. After the district court has determined whether the sources were credible, respondent suggests that the district court would decide, or at least recommend to this court, whether the investigation against respondent should be dismissed. Because no petition for disciplinary action has been filed, it is premature to address whether an in camera review of respondent’s sources is appropriate. Similarly, because it is premature, I would decline to address respondent's challenges based on First Amendment freedom of speech grounds.