One Less Dumb Rightwing Lawyer

One of the problems facing this nation is the plethora of dumb rightwing lawyers. Without this supply of dumb rightwing lawyers, our court systems would not need to deal with silly, malicious, and poorly thought-out suits brought by fringe-element organizations like the Alliance Defense Fund, the Institute for Justice, and the United States Attorney's Office.

The problem is not so much the fact that some attorneys are rightwingers. Indeed, I've worked for, with and against a lot of rightwing attorneys, and most of them are credits to their profession.

The problem lies with the dumb rightwing lawyers. They are everywhere. 150+ bottom-tier graduates of bottom-tier Regent University School of Law (founded by Pat Robertson) have found their way into the ranks of the US Attorney's Office, so confounding the works that people like Monica Goodling find themselves "crossing the line" without ever showing evidence that she knew where the line was in the first place.

Thank goodness that Massachusetts has chosen to light a candle rather than curse the darkness. Despite getting sued for $9.75 million (why not make it an even $10 million?), the Massachusetts Board of Law Examiners is refusing admission to Stephen Dunne, who came up short on the Bar Exam after refusing to respond to a question involving a gay couple. Answering the question, he argued, would imply that he endorses gay marriage and parenting.

I'm happy that the liberal lawyers among us didn't fall victim to this trap. Where would the rule of law be today if we had refused to answer questions about the death penalty, or about corporate powers? What if we had refused to answer questions about domestic law until gay couples could participate?

The Bar Exam is a test of knowledge demonstrating whether you are intellectually fit to practice law. If you fail it for a lack of knowledge, you are free to study up and give it another try. If you think you failed it because of your political beliefs, though, perhaps you'd do better as a rightwing something else, okay?