Brown v. The Florida Bar, et al.

FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
DEC 28, 2010
JOHN LEY
CLERK
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 10-12459
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 2:08-cv-00308-JES-SPC
ANNA L. BROWN,
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
THE FLORIDA BAR,
THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA,
R. FRED LEWIS,
CHARLES T. WELLS,
HARRY LEE ANSTEAD, et al.,
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(December 28, 2010)
Before TJOFLAT, CARNES and BARKETT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:

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Anna L. Brown appeals the district court’s denial of her claim that the
Florida courts’ requirement that practicing attorneys be members of the Florida
Bar violates her Freedom of Association and her Equal Protection Rights. But
Brown concedes that Circuit precedent forecloses her suit, see Kaimowitz v. The
Florida Bar, 996 F.2d 1151 (11th Cir. 1993), and she presents no compelling
reason for overturning Kaimowitz’s holding that mandatory bar membership does
not violate the Constitution. See also Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1,
14 (1990) (upholding over First Amendment challenge mandatory Bar dues so
long as their use was limited to furthering the goals of “regulating the legal
profession or improving the quality of legal services”); Railway Employees’ Dep’t
v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225, 238 (1956) (upholding compelled union membership as
“no more an infringement or impairment of First Amendment rights than there
would be in the case of a lawyer who by state law is required to be a member of an
integrated bar”). Thus, the court did not err in dismissing her suit. Nor did the1
court err in concluding a trial judge’s membership in the Florida Bar did not
require recusal.
AFFIRMED.
Having rejected the appeal on the merits, and no Judge in active service having1
requested that the court be polled on hearing the case en banc, we deny the Petition for Hearing
En Banc as moot.
2

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