Moot Court

The Rhode Island Supreme Court dismissed as moot an inactive member’s contention that he should not obligated to maintain membership in the state bar association

We have carefully considered the contentions raised in Mr. Kraemer’s written memoranda and presented at oral argument. We note that, in light of the [Rhode Island Bar Association’s] recent membership revisions, Mr. Kraemer qualifies as an “Inactive/Retired” member of the RIBA and is exempt from paying membership dues. Thus, we are satisfied that Mr. Kraemer’s contentions regarding mandatory membership dues are moot. We further conclude that we are not persuaded by Mr. Kraemer’s claim that inactive members of the bar—who elect not to resign—should not be required to maintain membership in the RIBA. Mr. Kraemer has failed to provide any legal analysis to support this claim. In his memoranda to this Court, Mr. Kraemer explicitly stated that “[w]hether this Court properly mandated bar membership and dues for lawyers practicing in Rhode Island in 1973 is not raised in this petition[.]” Moreover, when questioned at oral argument as to whether he was raising a constitutional argument, Mr. Kraemer responded that he “is not making a First Amendment argument”; instead, his argument is that mandatory membership provides no benefit to inactive/retired attorneys. We, therefore, decline to reach this claim.

(Mike Frisch)