Integrated Bar and the Freedom of Nonassociation—Continuing Seige

The purpose of this article is: (1) to analyze the question of whether the first amendment right to freedom of nonassociation recognized in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education applies to activities of integrated bar associations; (2) to attempt to determine the effect such an application would have on specific bar association activities such as lobbying, publications, and social activities; and (3) to analyze the effect that the extension of the principles of Abood would have on the integrated bar in general. The article concludes that once unified bar associations are limited to only those activities allowed under the principles of Abood they may cease to exist. Before the constitutional and practical issues engendered by Abood and Lathrop are addressed, however, this article first reviews briefly the history of the integrated bar.