''In re Primus'', 436 U.S. 412 (1978), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case in which the Court held that solicitation of prospective litigants by nonprofit organizations that engage in litigation as a form of political expression and political association constitutes expressive and associational conduct entitled to First Amendment protection.
Background
Primus was an attorney for the South Carolina affiliate of the
ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
. South Carolina had a policy of sterilizing certain women as a condition of receiving welfare. Primus sent letters to women who had been thus sterilized, offering the legal assistance of the ACLU. The South Carolina's Supreme Court disciplinary board reprimanded Primus for violating South Carolina bar rules against soliciting business. The South Carolina Supreme Court approved the discipline. Primus appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Opinion of the Court
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the discipline, ruling that solicitation of prospective litigants by nonprofit organizations that engage in litigation as a form of political expression and political association constitutes expressive and associational conduct entitled to First Amendment protection.
The opinion in ''In re Primus'' was released the same day as another First Amendment case relating to attorney solicitation ''Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass’n,'' 436 U.S. 447 (1978), which upheld a ban on attorney solicitation of accident victims within 30 days of the incident. The holdings were distinguished on account of the political expression and association elements present in ''Primus'' and absent in ''Ohralik''.
See also
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NAACP v. Button'',
*
Ambulance chasing
Ambulance chasing, also known as capping, is a term which refers to a lawyer soliciting for clients at a disaster site. The term "ambulance chasing" comes from the stereotype of lawyers who follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients. ...
References
External links
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{{US1stAmendment, association, state=expanded
1978 in United States case law
American Civil Liberties Union litigation
United States Free Speech Clause case law
United States professional responsibility case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
United States reproductive rights case law