Lawyer loses challenge to mandatory membership in group
Legal Events
A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to a policy that requires lawyers join the State Bar of Michigan. Lucille Taylor said the group’s use of her dues for advocacy activities violates her right to free speech, among other objections. But the appeals court, 3-0, said the U.S. Supreme Court has long held that mandatory membership as a condition of practicing law doesn’t violate freedom of association. The Supreme Court said in another case that bar associations can use dues without violating free speech. Taylor was chief counsel under Gov. John Engler and a top Republican lawyer in the Legislature. She argued that a 2018 decision in favor of public employees who don’t want to join a union would help her. “The speech claim would prevail if an integrated bar association used mandatory membership fees to fund non-germane political or ideological activity without providing adequate opt-out procedures,” Judge Amul Thapar said Thursday. Taylor conceded that the State Bar of Michigan’s activities don’t cross that line, Thapar said.
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USCIS Will Begin Accepting CW-1 Petitions for Fiscal Year 2019
On April 2, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting petitions under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap. Employers in the CNMI use the CW-1 program to employ foreign workers who are ineligible for other nonimmigrant worker categories. The cap for CW-1 visas for FY 2019 is 4,999.
For the FY 2019 cap, USCIS encourages employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to six months in advance of the proposed start date of employment and as early as possible within that timeframe. USCIS will reject a petition if it is filed more than six months in advance. An extension petition may request a start date of Oct. 1, 2018, even if that worker’s current status will not expire by that date.
Since USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the number of CW-1 visas available for FY 2019, USCIS may conduct a lottery to randomly select petitions and associated beneficiaries so that the cap is not exceeded. The lottery would give employers the fairest opportunity to request workers, particularly with the possibility of mail delays from the CNMI.
USCIS will count the total number of beneficiaries in the petitions received after 10 business days to determine if a lottery is needed. If the cap is met after those initial 10 days, a lottery may still need to be conducted with only the petitions received on the last day before the cap was met. USCIS will announce when the cap is met and whether a lottery has been conducted.