FEDERAL COURT SHOOTS DOWN PENNSYLVANIA BAR’S NEW ‘DISCRIMINATION’ RULE: As with so many such efforts, this one just happened to restrict protected speech. Weird how that keeps happening, huh?

Ultimately, the Court is swayed by the chilling effect that the Amendments will have on Plaintiff, and other Pennsylvania attorneys, if they go into effect. Rule 8.4(g)’s language, “by words . . . manifest bias or prejudice,” are a palpable presence in the Amendments and will hang over Pennsylvania attorneys like the sword of Damocles. This language will continuously threaten the speaker to selfcensor and constantly mind what the speaker says and how the speaker says it or the full apparatus and resources of the Commonwealth may be engaged to come swooping in to conduct an investigation. (Page 22 of PDF)

Disclosure: the plaintiff is my FIRE colleague Zach Greenberg, represented in his personal capacity by the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, as FIRE’s mission is restricted to higher ed.