The Process Was Due

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed an admonishment of attorney who ran for a seat on the court

In 2016 Bolinske campaigned for a seat on the Supreme Court. As part of his campaign Bolinske issued a press release alleging in part that certain members of the judiciary hid court records from the public. He claimed a petition for a supervisory writ he filed with this Court against a district court judge was purposely hidden or misfiled under the docket number of another case on this Court’s website.

The court’s review

Although Bolinske raises arguments relating to the substantive evidence and merits of his informal admonition, we granted leave to consider Bolinske’s appeal of the Disciplinary Board’s decision “on the procedural issue of whether the Disciplinary Board acted arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably, in affirming the issuance of an admonition by Inquiry Committee West.”

Bolinske argues the Disciplinary Board’s decision affirming the admonition is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable because its decision does not discuss what facts it considered and contains no analysis. He contends the Board’s decision did not afford him adequate due process because he was not able to argue his appeal in front of the Board or attend the Board’s meeting at which it considered his appeal…

Here, Bolinske appeared at the March 2017 Inquiry Committee West meeting and provided committee members documents he claimed supported his allegations. The Committee issued a written notice of disposition to Bolinske explaining its decision to issue an admonition. As allowed under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 3.1(D)(8), Bolinske appealed the Inquiry Committee’s disposition to the Disciplinary Board. The Board issued a written decision explaining it considered Bolinske’s appeal and affirmed the Inquiry Committee’s decision to issue an admonition. Bolinske claims he should have been able to attend the Board’s meeting; however, the disciplinary rules do not provide the opportunity to appear at the Disciplinary Board’s meeting for an appeal in an informal proceeding. N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 3.1(D)(8)see also N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 6.1(A)-(B) (deliberations and minutes from the Disciplinary Board’s meeting, along with documents prepared by Board members, are confidential). Bolinske also exercised his right under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 3.1(D)(8) to petition for leave to appeal the Disciplinary Board’s decision with this Court.

On this record, Bolinske has failed to establish a lack of due process under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 3.1. He received the process due to him under the rules and had sufficient opportunity to be heard. Bolinske’s right to due process in this informal disciplinary proceeding was not violated.

(Mike Frisch)