Newsflash: Failed lawyer wanna-be sues for being expected to know the law
Filed by: Ellen Andersen
July 2, 2007 9:00 AM
The National Law Journal is reporting the following lawsuit:
A Massachusetts bar examination applicant [Stephen Dunne] who claims he failed the test because he didn't answer a question about homosexual marriage and parenting is suing the test administration agency, the state Supreme Judicial Court and four individual justices for constitutional violations. ...
Dunne claims his score of 268.866 on the November 2006 bar exam just missed the passing score of 270 points because he didn't follow the proscribed format for an unlawful question about gay marriage. Dunne said the question required applicants to "affirmatively accept, support and promote homosexual marriage and homosexual parenting." Dunne claims the defendants violated his First Amendment right to exercise his religion and violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. He also claims their actions impose illegal state regulations on interstate commerce.
I'm intrigued by this story on several levels. First, a would-be lawyer is apparently suing the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners for expecting him to know the law, what with same-sex marriage being legal in Massachusetts and all. Second, he's suing the the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the four justices in the Goodridge majority because they decided the law (namely, that same-sex couples have the right to marry under Massachusetts' Constitution) that he doesn't want to have to know. Third, he's arguing that the reason he failed the Massachusetts bar exam is because he refused to answer an "unlawful question about homosexual marriage." All the other questions he got wrong apparently had nothing to do with his failing the bar. Nope. It's the one question that he knew the right answer to, but refused to answer because he believed the question to be unlawful that caused him to fail the bar.
Anyone wanna take bets on how fast Rush Limbaugh picks this story up as an example of how the liberal elite's promotion of the gay agenda is stifling religious liberty in this country?
Hat tip to Pam's House Blend for the story.
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2 Comments
Who would want this person practicing in Massachusetts? The freedom of religion doesn't mean that you get to make up your own laws and the state has to be okay with that. I think you learn that in law school.
Ryan | July 2, 2007 10:26 AM
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Wait...if homosexual marriage is LEGAL in Massachusetts, then how exactly is the question UNLAWFUL? And how exactly is DEFENDING THE LAW a violation of First Amendment rights?
Methinks said wannabe failed a few logic classes.
And methinks said wannabe lawyer fails to grasp the meaning of TEST as well. I mean, it's not as if they were asking said wannabe lawyer to actually DEFEND someone in court, which said wannabe might have to do if perhaps said wannabe was hired by the Public Defender's Office or somesuch.
Perhaps said wannabe should choose a different state to practice law in. But then perhaps said wannabe wouldn't be willing to defend that state's laws either.
What an entitled dumbass.
TM | July 2, 2007 2:31 PM
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