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Kurita’s DUI Lawyer Advertising Ban Comes Less Than Constitutionally Correct

By Kleinheider Posted on May 1, 2008 at 7:23 pm

An Attorney General’s opinion, sought after Senator Rosalind Kurita amended a bill creating an online registry of repeat DUI offenders to also ban advertising by lawyers purporting to specialize in DUI law, suggests that the constitutional concerns raised immediately after the amendment was attached were well founded:

“The Tennessee Supreme Court has the inherent constitutional authority to regulate the courts and the attorneys who practice before them,” Cooper wrote. “(Kurita’s amendment) improperly attempts to exercise powers properly belonging to the Supreme Court.”

In addition, Cooper opined that Kurita’s amendment “raises significant First Amendment concerns.”

“DUI defendants have a substantial interest in learning as much as possible about the attorneys who will represent them,” the opinion states.

In response to the opinion, Kurita said she’ll “have to find another way” to curtail drunk driving.

Kurita sponsored the amendment because she said she was tired of seeing suspected drunk drivers not be convicted.

Kurita’s opponent in August’s Democratic primary, Tim Barnes, is an attorney whose practice area includes DUI defense.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Kurita’s DUI Lawyer Advertising Ban Comes Less Than Constitutionally Correct”

  1. Otter writes
    May 1st, 2008 7:30 pm

    Teeheeheee….Kurita pulled an election year stunt that has now been revealed for what it truly was. We can only hope that the people in her District will take it one step further and send her home.

  2. Wintermute writes
    May 1st, 2008 9:59 pm

    Amen. People sure aren’t getting off wholesale here in Shelby; and I doubt they are in that fascist b___ch’s bailiwick. Take your spanking, hun. Posturing does’t always pay; and your not being a lawyer might just give you pause about getting into areas you know nothing about. Stick to nursing, eh?

  3. An Affront To The First And The Sixth : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee writes
    May 2nd, 2008 10:48 am

    [...] conservative legal mind, Nathan Moore, reacts favorably to the Attorney General’s opinion calling out Senator Rosalind Kurita’s ban on DUI lawyer advertising their services: Her [...]

  4. DWI Lawyer Washington County MN writes
    May 10th, 2008 4:39 am

    First and foremost, please do not drink and drive. It is a dangerous choice to make not only for you, but the other drivers on the road as your judgment and reaction times are commonly slowed or impaired, making you a more dangerous driver. Also, if in Minnesota, your chances of getting caught doing so are fairly high. If caught and charged with either a DUI or DWI, you can face many severe penalties including losing your vehicle, your license, or even your freedom by being put in jail for years. The Minnesota law is not lenient at all on drunk driving because of the many publicized cases we have had over the years.

  5. Online Registry Failed : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee writes
    May 14th, 2008 1:23 pm

    [...] proposal to create an online registry of repeat drunken drivers, the one Sen. Rosalind Kurita tried to attach an amendment banning DUI attorney advertising to, has failed in the state [...]

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