Admission to the Bar: a Constitutional Analysis

Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 34 Issue 3 Issue 3 - April 1981 Article 4 4-1981 Admission to the Bar: A Constitutional Analysis Ben C. Adams Edward H. Benton David A. Beyer Harrison L. Marshall, Jr. Carter R. Todd See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, and the Legal Profession Commons Recommended Citation Ben C. Adams; Edward H. Benton; David A. Beyer; Harrison L. Marshall, Jr.; Carter R. Todd; and Jane G. Allen Special Projects Editor, Admission to the Bar: A Constitutional Analysis, 34 Vanderbilt Law Review 655 (1981) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol34/iss3/4 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Admission to the Bar: A Constitutional Analysis Authors Ben C. Adams; Edward H. Benton; David A. Beyer; Harrison L. Marshall, Jr.; Carter R. Todd; and Jane G. Allen Special Projects Editor This note is available in Vanderbilt Law Review: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol34/iss3/4 SPECIAL PROJECT Admission to the Bar: A Constitutional Analysis I. INTRODUCTION .................................... 657 II. PERMANENT ADMISSION TO THE BAR ................. 661 A. Good Moral Character ....................... 664 1. Due Process--The Analytical Framework... 666 (a) Patterns of Conduct Resulting in a Finding of Bad Moral Character:Due Process Review of Individual Deter- minations ......................... 669 (1) Introduction .................. 669 (2) Criminal Conduct ............. 675 (3) Sexual Behavior ............... 679 (4) Bankruptcy ................... 680 (b) Inquiries into Political Associations and Beliefs: Due Process Review of Rulemaking Determinations ........ 683 (1) Introduction .................. 683 (2) The 1961 Bar Admission Cases 685 (3) The 1971 Bar Admission Cases 687 (4) Recent Applications of the 1971 Standard ..................... 692 (5) Analysis ...................... 694 (6) Conclusion .................... 696 2. The Supremacy Clause-Bankruptcy and the Good Moral Character Requirement ....... 696 (a) Introduction ...................... 696 (b) Legal Background ................. 698 (c) The Bar Admission Cases .......... 700 (d) The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 707 (e) Analysis and Conclusion ........... 708 B. The Bar Examination ....................... 710 1. Procedural Due Process-Challenges to Post- Examination Procedures .................. 711 655 656 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:655 (a) Introduction ...................... 711 (b) Judicial Developments ............. 713 (c) Analysis .......................... 716 (d) Conclusion ........................ 719 2. Substantive Due Process-Challenges to Limited Reexamination Rules ............. 719 (a) Introduction ...................... 719 (b) The Tenth Circuit Decision ........ 719 (c) Analysis and Conclusion ............ 721 3. Equal Protection-Challenges to the Bar Ex- amination by Minority Candidates ......... 721 (a) Introduction ...................... 721 Cb) Review and Analysis of Applicable Case Law ......................... 723 (c) An Alternative Approach .......... 727 (d) Conclusion ........................ 730 C. Residency Requirements ..................... 731 1. Equal Protection-The Right to Travel .... 732 (a) Introduction ...................... 732 Cb) The Right to Travel as a Fundamen- tal Interest ....................... 733 (1) Foundation Cases ............. 733 (2) Analysis ...................... 735 (c) The Bar Admission Cases .......... 736 (d) Conclusion ........................ 739 2. The Commerce Clause .................... 740 (a) Introduction ...................... 740 (b) Congressional Authority to Regulate Bar Admission Requirements ....... 741 (1) Legal Background ............. 741 (2) Practice of Law as Commerce 744 (3) Admission to the Bar as Inter- state Commerce ............... 746 (c) Limits on State Authority to Regu- late Bar Admission Requirements... 751 (1) Legal Background ............. 751 (2) Application to Bar Residency Requirements ................. 756 (d) Conclusion ........................ 763 3. The Privileges and Immunites Clause of Arti- cle IV ................................... 765 (a) Introduction ...................... 765 1981] BAR ADMISSIONS (b) The Privileges and Immunities Clause ............................ 767 (1) Fundamental Rights ........... 767 (2) The Standard of Review ....... 769 (c) The Bar Admission Cases .......... 771 (d) Analysis .......................... 775 (1) Durational Residency .......... 775 (2) Simple Residency ............. 775 (3) Legitimate State Interests ...... 776 (4) Less Restrictive Alternatives ... 777 (5) Comparisons with other Methods of Challenge .................. 778 (e) Conclusion .................. ..... 779 III. ADMISSION Pro Hac Vice .......................... 780 A. Introduction ................................ 780 B. ProceduralDue Process ...................... 782 1. Leis v. Flynt ............................ 782 2. Analysis ................................. 784 3. The Impact of Leis v. Flynt .............. 789 C. Equal Protection ............................ 793 I. INTRODUCTION Attorneys may seek to practice law in a state on either a permanent or a temporary basis. An attorney's permanent admission to the bar may take two forms-first time or initial admission upon receiving a law degree and admission after having practiced in another state. In both of these cases, the applicant must comply with certain requirements before being admitted to the state's bar.1 Among the requirements that may be mandated by a state are demonstration of good moral character, successful completion of a bar examination, some form of residency, payment of fees, and graduation from an accredited law school. Temporary admission or admission pro hac vice is permission to try a single lawsuit in a foreign jurisdiction.' An attorney seeking temporary admission must also comply with certain requirements before being granted permission to appear.3 Attorneys have a substantial interest in successfully complet- 1. A state can require bar applicants to possess certain qualifications in order to be eligible for admission as long as those qualifications are rationally related to fitness to practice law. Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232, 239 (1957). 2. See note 821 infra and accompanying text. 3. See note 828 infra and accompanying text. 658 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:655 ing the requirements for admission to the bar, particularly in the case of permanent admission. Obviously, obtaining a license to practice law is the sine qua non to an attorney's continuing career. Similarly, a state has a substantial interest in ensuring that its attorneys are both academically and morally competent to practice law. The state has a duty to protect prospective clients as well as a significant interest in safeguarding the efficient administration of justice." Considering the significant interests involved in bar admission decisions, it is not surprising that when a state denies admission to an applicant, litigation is likely to follow. Despite the inherently local nature of bar admission regulation, 5 states cannot deny admission to an applicant or lay down rules contrary to federal constitutional principles. 6 Often the foundation of claims by rejected bar applicants is that the state violated rights granted under the federal constitution. These claims focus on a number of constitutional provisions, ranging from the due process and equal protection clauses to the commerce and privileges and immunities clauses. Recently, there has been a surge of publicity and comment di- rected toward the problems of attorneys who are denied either permanent or temporary admission to the bar.7 Several factors have contributed to the recent interest in this problem. First, the number of people taking the bar examination has increased steadily over the past five years.8 Second, the law practice of many attorneys has taken on an increasingly interstate character resulting in 4. See notes 50-52 infra and accompanying text. 5. Because attorneys are officers of the court, the power to admit, control, and disbar them inherently resides with the state's judiciary. Feldman v. State Bd. of Law Examiners, 438 F.2d 699, 702 (8th Cir. 1971). 6. Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. at 239. 7. See, e.g., Rout, Flunking the Bar Exam Frustrates Thousands of Law-School Grads, Wall St. J., Apr. 1, 1981, at 1, col. 1; National L.J., Aug. 25, 1980, at 1, col. 4; Note, A ConstitutionalAnalysis of State Bar Residency Requirements Under the InterstatePrivi- leges and Immunities Clause of Article IV, 92 HAv. L. Rsv. 1461 (1979); 79 COLum. L. Rxv. 572 (1979). 8. Year Total Taking Total Passing Percent Passing 1975 46,414 34,144 74.0% 1976 49,099 34,951 70.0% 1977 51,970 36,514 70.0% 1978 53,980 36,434 67.4% 1979 57,676 39,631 68.8% Source: BAR ExAImm (1975-1979) (taken from the annual statistics compiled by the Na- tional Conference of Bar Examiners). 1981] BAR ADMISSIONS 659 a need to appear and practice in more than one state.' Finally, more licensed attorneys are moving on a permanent basis from one state to another during their careers, and such mobility requires them to seek permanent admission

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