WILL also noted that the state bar’s inclusion of DEI programming violated the First Amendment because it amounted to compelled speech. Membership in the Wisconsin bar is mandatory, and all practicing state lawyers are required to pay dues. When the bar in turn spends money to support diversity programs, the fee structure forces members to fund a program some dislike.
Other cases across the country are challenging bar association programs on the same grounds. In April the American Alliance for Equal Rights filed a complaint in federal court in Illinois that the American Bar Association’s 25-year-old Legal Opportunity Scholarship illegally discriminates by race.
The problem with the program, the complaint says, is that “any incoming law student can apply—so long as their skin isn’t white.” The American Alliance for Equal Rights is led by Edward Blum, who brought the Students for Fair Admissions case against Harvard.
WILL has also filed a complaint against the American Bar Association under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It charged that the ABA “runs at least nine racially discriminatory programs,” including diversity clerkships. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge is also pending.