Judges rule against free speech The Michigan Supreme Court voted against free speech recently when they reprimanded Attorney Geoffrey Fieger for calling some judges names on his CBS radio show. In a 4-3 decision on July 31, judges reinstated a formal reprimand against Fieger for jokingly referring to a trio of appellate judges “jackasses,” during a 1999 live broadcast of “Fieger Time.” The Supreme Court judges contend he violated two court rules that dictate attorneys act in a courteous manner, but Fieger maintains he made the statements outside the courtroom, and his speech is protected by the First Amendment. The state’s Attorney Discipline Board agreed, yet Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and Justices Maura Corrigan, Stephen Markman and Robert Young found him guilty and said the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Fieger. “Four judges appointed by (former Governor) John Engler to the Michigan Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history said that people with law licenses don’t have the First Amendment right to criticize judges on radio shows,” Fieger said. “Their decision to reject the First Amendment is so obscene that one has to wonder what rights we are fighting for in Iraq if we no longer have these rights at home.” Fieger made the comments after the appellate judges reversed a $15 million verdict he won on behalf of a client. In 2001, the Attorney Grievance Commission recommended he be reprimanded. Fieger appealed to the Attorney Discipline Board where he won. However, the Grievance Commission then appealed to the state Supreme Court, which has four judges who are known to hate Fieger.
	In his opinion for the majority, Taylor, a personal friend of Engler, wrote: “We conclude that Mr. Fieger’s vulgar and crude attacks on three members of our Court of Appeals were not constitutionally protected.” Yet Justice Elizabeth Weaver accused the majority of having a bias against Fieger, who often speaks out against judges, and who funded ads opposing Stephen Markman’s last bid for reelection. In an April 8 column in the Metro Times, “So Much for Free Speech,” Jack Lessenberry lambasted the ruling: “Last week we learned that four of the seven Michigan Supreme Court justices are far ruder, cruder, more obscene and — this is the scary part — far more dangerous than old potty mouth.” Read the MetroTimes article by clicking here.