Yesterday's decision by State Bar Court of California Judge Dennis Saab in In the Matter of Brown stemmed from the Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar of California (OCTC) charging a lawyer with, among other things, engaging in "moral turpitude" and violating state and federal law "by directing others to commit acts of violence." Here's an excerpt from the (long) opinion (for more factual details and for more on the other charges, see the full opinion):
OCTC alleges that, between May 29 and May 31, 2020, Respondent committed acts of moral turpitude by posting certain tweets "that directed other[s] to commit acts of violence, including calls to shoot, summarily execute, and burn down the homes of members of the public." In particular, the [OCTC] alleges the following tweets constituted misconduct: (a) "Can't wait. At least a reason to shoot them" (Tweet No. 1); (b) "They need to be shot" (Tweet No. 5); (c) "Yes and they should be shooting the looters" (Tweet No. 14) and "They should be shot. And if it was your business you'd pull the trigger" (Tweet No. 15); (d) "Shoot the protesters" (Tweet No. 7); (e) "Let's burn your house" (Tweet No. 13); and (f) "Omg Scarborough you've hit a new low in stupidity. Let's go burn your house down with you in it" (Tweet No. 10).
Because [this count] charges Respondent with misconduct based purely upon the content of her speech, the protections of the First Amendment are implicated.
