Miller v. Washington State Bar Ass'n

• Decision Date: 22 June 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-3002,80-3002
• Citation: 679 F.2d 1313
• Parties: Anton J. MILLER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The WASHINGTON STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1313

679 F.2d 1313

Anton J. MILLER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The WASHINGTON STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 80-3002.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued Aug. 5, 1981.

Submitted Aug. 19, 1981.

Decided June 22, 1982.

Anton J. Miller, pro se.

Robert T. Farrell, Seattle, Wash., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Before SCHROEDER and ALARCON, Circuit Judges, and PRICE, ^* District Judge.

SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:

The appellant, Anton J. Miller, is a member of the Washington State Bar Association. He received a "letter of admonition" from the Disciplinary Board of the State Bar after he published a poem critical of the Washington Supreme Court. Miller filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming that the admonition interfered with the exercise of his first amendment rights, and now appeals the district court's dismissal of the case for lack of jurisdiction.

The district court dismissed the suit in reliance upon the law of this circuit that the lower federal courts will not review actions of state courts with respect to attorney discipline. Federal jurisdiction to review such decisions lies exclusively in the United States Supreme Court by writ of certiorari to the state court. MacKay v. Nesbitt, 412 F.2d 846 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 960, 90 S.Ct. 435, 24 L.Ed.2d 425 (1969); see also Brown v. Board of Bar Examiners, 623 F.2d 605, 609-10 (9th Cir. 1980). We hold that the district court erred in its reliance upon such authority in this case, as there have been no state court proceedings. We also reject the State Bar's alternative argument that the letter of admonition is not "disciplinary action" and hence does not create a justiciable case or controversy.

This dispute between Miller and the State Bar had its genesis in a poem criticizing the Washington Supreme Court's handling of a particular matter in which Miller was involved. A complaint was filed with the State Bar contending that Miller should be disciplined for allowing the poem he had written to be published in two local newspapers. The State Bar advised Miller by letter of the complaint, and offered him an opportunity to respond to the charges. When Miller did not respond within the period allowed, the State Bar's Disciplinary Board issued the letter of admonition challenged here, which provided as follows:

November 21, 1977

Mr. Anton J. Miller

Attorney at Law

P. O. Box 563

Raymond, Washington 98577

Re: LETTER OF ADMONITION

Dear Mr. Miller:

This will advise that the Disciplinary Board of the Washington State Bar Association has met and acted upon a complaint filed against you by August F. Hahn, as secretary to the local bar group. After due consideration, and in exercise of the discretion vested in the Board by Disciplinary Rule 2.4(f)(3), the Board voted to dismiss the complaint against you without referring it for a formal hearing. However, the facts surrounding the complaint are such that the Board has a concern about your professional conduct in this instance and therefore finds it necessary to issue this letter of admonition.

The complaint filed against you concerns your letters to the editors of the Harbor Pilot and Raymond Herald, in the form of poems criticizing decisions of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of this state in a matter in which you were personally involved. An attorney in this state may, of course, disagree with a court decision, and has the right to make his disagreement known in an appropriate manner. The Board, however, felt that your choice of language went beyond the bounds of appropriate criticism and cast undue disrespect on the courts of this state. Especially is this true of the last line of your poem, in which you state, "The rule of law is no longer secure, because its highest guardians are not pure." In the minds of the average reader such language might imply not only your disagreement with the decisions of the courts, but also that you believe the courts acted corruptly.

While a letter of admonition does not constitute a formal finding of misconduct, it is to be understood that the Board raises this question in regard to the propriety of your actions.

Very truly yours,

Paul W. Steere, Chairman

Disciplinary Board

Such letters are authorized by Rule 2.4(f)(3) of the Washington Rules for Discipline of Attorneys, which provides:

Letter of Admonition. Where it appears to the Board that, even if the findings of the Local Administrative Committee or bar staff were true, the misconduct charged is not of sufficient magnitude to warrant a trial, the Board, in its discretion, may dismiss the complaint and send the attorney a letter of admonition warning against such conduct in the future. Such a letter shall not constitute a finding of misconduct.

Two days after the Board's letter was written, Miller wrote to the Secretary of the Board inquiring about the availability of remedies to review and expunge the letter of admonition. The chairman responded in writing that there was no administrative procedure available for appealing an admonition "because under the rules an admonition does not amount to a finding of misconduct." ¹ Following receipt of the chairman's letter, Miller filed this action in district court seeking to have the letter expunged from his file.

Two questions are presented for our decision. The first is whether the district court correctly held that it did not have jurisdiction over a constitutional claim growing out of disciplinary action taken by the State Bar Association. The second, which the district court did not reach, is whether Miller is sufficiently "adversely affected" by the letter of admonition to give rise to a justiciable case or controversy.

In urging that the State Bar and its disciplinary committees are immune from scrutiny in federal courts regarding alleged violations of attorneys' constitutional rights, the State Bar relies upon the decision of this court in MacKay v. Nesbitt, supra. That case, however, involved an attorney's attempt to review in federal district court orders of the Alaska Supreme Court suspending him from practice. This court's denial of jurisdiction did not create a blanket immunity for state bar associations from federal judicial review in disciplinary matters. Rather, the court, relying on Theard v. United States, 354 U.S. 278, 281, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1276, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342 (1957), merely held that orders of a state supreme court relating to discipline and disbarment of members of its bar could be reviewed only by the United States Supreme Court on certiorari to the state court, and not by means of an original action in a lower federal court. MacKay is leading authority for that proposition and has been followed by other courts in rejecting suits challenging state supreme court disciplinary actions. See, e.g., Younger v. Colorado State Board of Bar Examiners, 625 F.2d 372, 375 (10th Cir. 1980); Martinez Rivera v. Trias Monge, 587 F.2d 539, 540-41 (1st Cir. 1978); Grossgold v. Supreme Court, 557 F.2d 122, 124 (7th Cir. 1977); Doe v. Pringle, 550 F.2d 596 (10th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 916, 97 S.Ct. 2179, 53 L.Ed.2d 227 (1977).

The MacKay rule does not operate to bar this suit, as there has been no order of the Washington Supreme Court or of any other state court. The only action taken has been that of the disciplinary committee, and Miller was expressly told that review was unavailable. The dual predicates for application of the MacKay rule are a prior state court order, and the availability of a petition to the United States Supreme Court. Both are lacking here. ²

The State Bar contends that we should accord the same deference to the disciplinary committee as we do to judicial action, on the theory that the committee is an agent of the Washington Supreme Court. We find no support for that position. The fact that the court has delegated some of its exclusive authority in disciplinary matters, see State ex rel. Schwab v. Washington State Bar Association, 80 Wash.2d 266, 493 P.2d 1237, 1238-39 (S.Ct.1972), in such a way that some administrative actions are effectively final and unreviewable, is in our view further justification for the availability of federal court scrutiny when constitutional rights are implicated.

The important distinction between administrative and judicial actions in bar disciplinary matters was recognized in Polk v. State Bar of Texas, 480 F.2d 998 (5th Cir. 1973). Polk had sued in federal district court to enjoin publication in the state bar journal of a reprimand issued by a bar grievance committee. The district court dismissed the suit on the authority of Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 748, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). The conclusion reached, similar to that reached by the district court in this case, was that federal courts should not interfere with state bar disciplinary proceedings. The Fifth Circuit reversed, emphasizing the distinction between administrative and judicial proceedings. The lack of any provision for state judicial review of the grievance committee decision was also noted. For those reasons, the court of appeals remanded for consideration of the first amendment claim. See also Getty v. Reed, 547 F.2d 971 (6th Cir. 1977). We reach a similar result.

Fully consistent with our holding is the influential report of the special committee established by the American Bar Association to study disciplinary problems and procedures, commonly referred to as the Clark Committee. The committee concluded that when a state supreme court is vested with the ultimate disciplinary power, it should assure a means whereby it exercises that authority. ABA Special Committee on Evaluation of Disciplinary Enforcement, Problems and Recommendations in Disciplinary Enforcement 95 (Final Draft, June 1970) (the "Clark Report"). While emphasizing the need for "informal admonitory procedures" to dispose of...