I have placed my article on SSRN titled "Governor Dan Moody, the Texas Bar, and the Cause of Judicial Reform in Texas During the Late 1920s . . . and to McDonald v. Longley Today."
In it I provide the history of judicial reform in Texas during the administration of a progressive governor from 1927-1931, Dan Moody, who worked closely with the Texas Bar Ass'n (forerunner of today's State Bar of Texas (the "SBOT")....and at the end of the essay, I link that history up with the Fifth Circuit's July 2, 2021 decision in McDonald v. Longley. I explain there:
"The historic concern of the professional organization for those issues and the overall topic of the administration of justice remains appropriate work for the Bar today—and has in fact just survived a First Amendment attack in the federal courts mounted by disgruntled members of the SBOT who wished not to be members and not to have to pay dues. The plaintiffs contended that mandatory SBOT membership somehow violated their free-association right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"Even though it engaged in no historical analysis of the bar organization’s long-term engagement in judicial-improvement efforts, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals got it right, holding on July 2, 2021, in McDonald v. Longley, based on the precedent of the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision Keller v. State Bar of California, that while, in general, “political and ideological” activities of the SBOT can abridge the First Amendment rights of Bar members in several respects, the Bar’s “[l]obbying for legislation regarding the functioning of the state's courts or legal system writ large . . . is germane,” that is, entirely proper.
"The Fifth Circuit thereby vindicated the historic concern and involvement of the organized bar in such activities—including its successful collaboration with Governor Dan Moody for judicial reform in Texas ninety years ago."
My article is available for free (you must simply be registered with SSRN-dot-com) at: https://lnkd.in/ekb-8fJk.