We, the founders of Oregon Civil Liberties Attorneys, respectfully Dissent from recent statements by the Oregon State Bar which are not germane to the regulation of the practice of law in Oregon.
In the April 2018 edition of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin, the Oregon State Bar published, side-by-side, two documents: a “Statement on White Nationalism and Normalization of Violence” and a “Joint Statement of the Oregon Specialty Bars Associations Supporting the Oregon State Bar’s Statement Against White Nationalism and Normalization of Violence.”
The joint communiqués purported to denounce “White Supremacism.” The right side of the page was given over – for free – to a select group of “Specialty Bar Associations” which argued that President Trump was elected and is supported exclusively by white supremacists. This immediately caught the attention of many members of the Bar who despise white supremacism alongside all ideologies which reject our American traditions.
In Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990), the United States Supreme Court unanimously “held that attorneys who are required to be members of a state bar association have a First Amendment right to refrain from subsidizing the organization’s political or ideological activities.” When we voiced our concerns to the Oregon State Bar, it admitted it had violated Keller…and offered us $1.12.
It was intensely dismaying to see our impartial, nonpartisan, apolitical concerns dismissed in such cavalier fashion.[1]
As career military Judge Advocates, we are duty-bound to defend our Constitution and the Rule of Law against all usurpation.[2] Per Keller, the Oregon State Bar’s publication of divisive, partisan political and ideological speech was a violation of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If the Oregon State Bar felt (and, apparently, still feels) it is entitled to disobey the law, we were duty-bound to oppose their lawlessness. As such, we have taken the matter before the Supreme Court of the United States in Crowe v. Oregon State Bar. (The Goldwater Institute has graciously assisted us in this endeavor, and Rebecca Rusiecki has recently published a scholarly article analyzing the issues raised therein.)
We believe it is not the role of the Oregon State Bar to engage in partisan politics: While we readily acknowledge that the Promise of America has been imperfectly applied on occasion, we believe history clearly demonstrates the wisdom and foresight of our Founding Fathers in creating a system by which ever-greater-opportunity and -equality has been delivered to ever-more Americans. We feel so strongly about the wisdom of our Constitutional traditions that we have voluntarily served in armed conflict against America’s adversaries.
The Rule of Law – and politics in general – exists so that all Americans can live in peace alongside those countrymen with whom they will never agree. We are heartened to see that America’s political disagreements are intense, as befits a people who take the responsibility of self-government as seriously as Americans do; but the peaceful resolution of societal disagreement cannot be achieved by straw men and woke groupthink. In fact, if the signatories of the joint communiqués had bothered circulating their political statement to a more diverse audience (including the Military and Veterans Law Section of the Oregon State Bar that Lieutenant Colonel Crowe chairs), the Bar might have produced a less divisive (and less illegal) statement.
Our State Bar exists to regulate the practice of law in Oregon as the Executive Agent of the Oregon Supreme Court. It does not exist to “enlighten” people about those for whom they should vote. We believe political statements can safely be left to politicians, and that our Bar – like our Judiciary – should concentrate on delivering impartial, apolitical, nonpartisan legal services to all Oregonians—without fear or favor.
When the Oregon State Bar starts engaging in politics, it undermines the confidence of the public in the neutrality of the Bar and of the fairness of our legal system. This is why the U.S. Supreme Court agreed 9-0 in 1990 in Keller that what the Oregon State Bar did was unlawful. To unlawfully engage in partisan political and ideological advocacy causes the Rule of Law to break down while inviting into our country the dysfunction and terror which afflicts lawless foreign lands.
We are proud to make common cause with any American who bears true faith and allegiance to our People, our Nation, and our Constitutional traditions. All who work to achieve liberty and justice for all are our friends, and all who would deny liberty and justice to any American will be opposed.
We, the undersigned, are unaware of any country in the history of the world which has embraced tribalism, identity politics, or divisiveness and then enjoyed improved peace and prosperity. We believe it is not coincidence that that the country which has most intensely embraced the “American idea” of the purpose of government – The maximization of Individual Autonomy in a manner not inconsistent with the Common Good – also happens to be the most powerful, most stable, most free country in the history of the world.[3]
As Oregon Governor Tom McCall once said, “You and I shouldn’t claim we love Oregon more than anyone else, but that we love Oregon as much as anyone. Our thoughts today, and our deliberations to come, must spring from our determination to keep Oregon lovable and to make it even more livable.” In the spirit of our great Governor, we do not claim to love Oregon – or America – more than anyone else; but we will not be told that we do not love every American as much as anyone else.
We do not believe in hate…or that America is the source of all evil in this world. What we do believe is that every man and woman and child in America has certain unalienable rights, and that among these rights are the right to think whatever they will. When the federal government tells us that “242 White Supremacists live in Oregon,” we mourn for the foolishness which induces the powerful to control those “beneath them.” Every tyrant believes themselves wiser and more virtuous and infallible, or they would lack the will to enslave others. Our American tradition of radical decentralization of power is the only antidote to the affliction that overly-ambition men inflict on the Body Politic.
Our Founding Fathers designed a system by which all white, property-owning men could be free; but to do so, they had to acknowledge that all men (and women) were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. This set the conditions by which the Promise of America would never diminish and ever expand…provided that We, the People, did not give the pathologically self-confident the power to “perfect” us into slavery.
The system our Founding Fathers created has given us the longest-lived and most stable Constitution in human history … and President Donald Trump. Therefore, we hope that those who are bitterly upset about their team losing one can get over it. Sometimes in politics, you win. And sometimes you lose. Neither event gives the disgruntled and opportunistic an excuse to ignore the law, nor does it give powerful bureaucrats an excuse to disparage those with whom they politically disagree.
We, the undersigned, pledge to all who are anxious and confused about recent political developments that they should be of good cheer. As long as the fundamental rules by which we have all agreed to abide are honored, they may discover – perhaps even sooner than they imagined – that they will regain power. But regardless of who is in charge, we pledge our lives and our sacred honor that we will stand vigilant to protect the losers from unlawful treatment by the victors. And we further pledge that we will link hands with any person who seeks to help us come ever closer to achieving the Promise of America for all.
[1] As the links above show, the unlawful statements are still prominently featured on the Oregon State Bar’s website.
[2] As Lieutenant Colonel Crowe explained to the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors, “I would submit to you that my Army has killed a lot more Nazis and Confederate traitors than all of the lawyers in this room combined, and none of the members of the Military and Veterans Law Section appreciate a lecture by you about opposing ‘White Supremacism’.”
[3] While there are many other countries which Americans esteem – like J
Crowe for Justice 
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