IN RE DISBARMENT OF CROW
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Mr. Justice Douglas;
with whom Mr. Justice Black concurs,
dissenting.
The disposition made of this disbarment proceeding does not conform to our practice. While admission to membership in our Bar is dependent on membership in a Bar of a State or other like political unit (Rule 5), disbarment there does not automatically .result in disbar-, ment here. When a State disbars a lawyer, we suspend him and issue a rule to show cause why he should not be disbarred. He then has an opportunity to make a return, after which (or on expiration of 40 days if no response is made) “the court, will enter an appropriate order.” Rule 8.
If a return is made challenging the fairness of the state proceedings that resulted in;his disbarment tkere, it is our practice to appoint a committee to make an ‘inquiry into the matter and submit a report and recommendation to us. That was done in In re Capshaw. Journal, Supreme Court of the United States, February 12, 1945, p. 167; 65 Sup. Ct. 673. The committee there appointed reported and, acting on that report, we entered an order of disbarment. Journal, Supreme Court of the United States, May 19, 1947, p. 260; 67 Sup. Ct. 1345.
Crow has made a return ip this case denying the changes against him, alleging they were “manufactured.” He challenges the reliability of the witnesses who spoke against him; he insists that the testimony of some witnesses refutes the charges; he maintains that persons with dishonorable motives induced witnesses to testify falsely against him; he alleges -that one of the judges who sat in the disbarment proceedings should have been disqualified.
Three of the charges relate to Crow’s conduct in divorce proceedings. The fourth involves a charge that $100 given him by a client for posting a bond was not so. used and was never returned.
The charges are serious but no more so than those involved in the Capshaw case. It is for us to make our own determination as to the fitness of an attorney to remain on our rolls. State proceedings of disbarment, though presumptively correct, are not binding. See Sell ing v. Radford, 243 U. S. 46. This is not the first time that state disbarment proceedings have been challenged as lacking in procedural due process. See Isserman v. Ethics Committee, 345 U. S. 927 (dissent). Sometimes we can act on the face of .the record, as where no serious issues of fact are involved. See In re Isserman, 345 U. S. 286, rev’d, 348 U. S. 1. But the important questions presented here turn on factual issues. The return in this case contains allegations which, if proved, would suggest that the requirements of fair procedure, without which no citizen can be deprived of his livelihood, were not satisfied in the Ohio proceedings.
These complaints that Crow makes may prove to be as fanciful-as he thinks the charges against him are. But we should act only after a report of a committee that reflects none of the feelings and prejudices of the community which has condemned Crow.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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In re the Disbarment Proceedings of J. Harvey Crow, 283 F.2d 685 (6th Cir. 1960)…, 357 U.S. 927, 78 S.Ct. 1372, 2 L.Ed.2d 1371. On June 1, 1959, the Supreme Court of the United States, upon the report of the disbarment in Ohio, by order, without a hearing and without opinion, disbarred the appellant from practice in that Court. 359 U.S. 1007, 79 S.Ct. 1152, 3 L.Ed.2d 1025. Subsequent to filing proceedings in the District Court, the appellant was cited for contempt in the Supreme Court of Ohio, for refusing to comply with the disbarment order. On this charge he was ordered to surrender…
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Howard v. United States Dist. Court for the Dist. of Colo., 318 F.2d 521 (10th Cir. 1963)…, 354 U.S. 278, 282, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342. . Cf. In re Crow, 6 Cir., 283 F. 2d 685, 687, certiorari denied Crow v. Faulkner, 357 U.S. 927, 78 S.Ct. 1372, 2 L.Ed.2d 1371, see also Matter of Disbarment of Crow, 79 S.Ct. 1152, 3 L.Ed.2d 1025, 359 U.S. 1007, and In re MacNeil, 1 Cir., 266 F. 2d 167, 170-171, certiorari denied MacNeil v. Julian, 361 U.S. 861, 80 S.Ct. 120, 4 L.Ed.2d 103. . Cf. In re Alker, 3 Cir., 307 F. 2d 880, 881, certiorari denied 371 U.S. 923, 83 S.Ct. 291, 9 L.Ed.2d 231. . 364 P…
Authorities Cited
- In re Disbarment of Isserman, 348 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1954)
- In re the Petition of Selling v. Radford, 243 U.S. 46 (U.S. 1917)
- In re Disbarment of Isserman, 345 U.S. 286 (U.S. 1953)
- Isserman v. Ethics Comm. of the Essex Cnty. Bar Ass'n, 345 U.S. 927 (U.S. 1953)