Bernard Selling v. George Radford
| Decision Date | 06 March 1917 |
| Docket Number | O,No. 21,21 |
| Citation | 37 S.Ct. 377,243 U.S. 46,61 L.Ed. 585 |
| Parties | BERNARD B. SELLING, Otto Kirchner, Henry M. Campbell, Clarence A. Lightner, and Sidney T. Miller, a Special Committee Appointed by the Association of the Bar of the City of Detroit, Petitioners, v. GEORGE W. RADFORD. riginal |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Solicitor General Davis for petitioner.
Messrs. Thomas A. E. Weadock and Harrison Geer for respondent.
George W. Radford was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state of Michigan on the 15th day of June, 1876, About ten years thereafter, on March 18, 1886, upon the representation that he had been for the three years preceding, a member of the Bar of the highest court of the state of Michigan, and upon the further assurance, both conformably with rule 2 of this court, that his private and professional character appeared to be fair, he was permitted to become a member of the Bar of this court.
Represented by the Solicitor General of the United States, the petitioners, as a committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of Detroit, specially appointed for that purpose, seek to procure an order striking Radford from the roll of the members of the Bar of this court on the ground of his personal unworthiness to continue as a member of such Bar. And, in coming to consider their request, we unselfishly understand their sense of pain at being called on to discharge the duty which they perform. The original petition filed for that purpose alleged that in a suit brought in a designated court of original jurisdiction in Michigan for the purpose of disbarring Radford for professional misconduct amounting to moral wrong, he had, after notice and full hearing, been found to have committed the wrongful acts complained of, and had been disbarred, and that such judgment had been approved by the supreme court of Michigan in a proceeding by certiorari taken to consider the same. Annexed to the petition was a copy of the opinion and order of disbarment entered by the court of original jurisdiction, as well as a copy of the opinion and order of the supreme court of the state in the certiorari proceeding, the same being reported in 168 Mich. 474, 134 N. W. 472.
It was alleged in the petition that, notwithstanding the fact that Radford had, by the final action of the supreme court of the state of Michigan, been stricken from the rolls of the courts in that state for the reasons previously stated, he had continued in the city of Detroit to hold himself out as a practising lawyer entitled to respect and confidence as such because of the fact that he continued to be a member of the Bar of this court, unaffected by the order of disbarment by the courts of the state. After reciting the unseemly condition produced by these circumstances and the disrespect for the state courts which was naturally implied, the prayer was for a rule to show cause and for the awarding, on the return to such rule, of the order of disbarment which was sought.
An answer was made to the rule to show cause and a brief filed in support of the same, as to which we think it suffices to say for our present purposes that both the answer and the brief take a much wider range than is permissible, and rely upon much that is here irrelevant, not to say in some respects improper to be considered, as the prayer for the enforcement of the judgment of the court of last resort of Michigan is not to be converted into a trial of the courts of that state or of the members of the Detroit Bar Association on behalf of which the petition was filed.
Beyond all question, when admission to the Bar of this court is secured, that right may not be taken away except by the action of this court. While this is true, it is also true that the character and scope of the investigation to be made on a prayer for disbarment, before sanction is given to it, must depend upon the character of the acts of misconduct and wrong relied upon, of the place of their...
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Keenan v. Board of Law Examiners of State of NC
...of the Louisiana judgment." Theard is simply the most recent moderate pronouncement of the flatter rule of Selling v. Radford, 243 U.S. 46, 37 S.Ct. 377, 61 L.Ed. 585 (1917) that "we have no authority to reexamine or reverse, as a reviewing court, the action of the Supreme Court of Michigan......
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State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass'n v. Mothershed
...2010), where the court discussed both reciprocal discipline in the Circuit Courts as well as application of Selling v. Radford, 243 U.S. 46, 37 S.Ct. 377, 61 L.Ed. 585 (1917). In re Roman, 601 F.3d at 192-194. Respondent's discipline herein was not imposed as reciprocal discipline, but the ......
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In re Surrick
...that imposing discipline would result in grave injustice." In re Jacobs, 44 F.3d 84, 88 (2d Cir.1994) (citing Selling v. Radford, 243 U.S. 46, 51, 37 S.Ct. 377, 61 L.Ed. 585 (1917)). More specifically, as the Supreme Court has held, federal courts should impose reciprocal discipline unless ......
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Bartos v. United States District Court
...of an attorney at the bar may be such as to render him an unfit person to continue to be a member of such bar. Selling v. Radford, 243 U. S. 46, 37 S. Ct. 377, 61 L. Ed. 585, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 569. However, the act of plaintiff in error in disregarding his oath of office and his duty as an o......