The Oregon State Bar wants a judge to throw out a federal lawsuit filed by two attorneys who have challenged the bar’s dues as well as the bar’s publication of a statement decrying the rise of white nationalism under President Trump.

Attorney Daniel Crowe, Lawrence Peterson and the nonprofit group, Oregon Civil Liberties Attorneys, sued the bar last month, arguing it violated their constitutional rights by requiring them to pay fees to be members and using their dues for political speech that they don’t agree with.

The bar, which regulates admission to the practice of law and the conduct of practicing attorneys, has countered it can’t be sued in federal court because it’s an “arm’’ of the state of Oregon created by state lawmakers in 1935.

Its lawyers also cite U.S. Supreme Court rulings that allow mandatory bar membership, membership fees for attorneys and use of the fees for political and ideological activities related to the regulation of lawyers and their legal services.

Crowe and Peterson disagreed with the “Joint Statement of the Oregon Specialty Bar Associations Supporting the Oregon State Bar’s Statement on White Nationalism and Normalization of Violence,” that was published in the bar’s April 2018 Bulletin.

It was signed by non-bar specialty groups and published in the bar’s magazine that is mailed to members 10 times a year. Leaders of the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Oregon Filipino American Lawyers Association, Oregon chapter of the National Bar Association, Oregon Hispanic Bar Association, Oregon Women Lawyers, OGALLA-The LGBT Bar Association of Oregon and Oregon Minority Lawyers Association signed it.

The statement repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump for having "catered to this white nationalist movement, allowing it to make up the base of his support and providing it a false sense of legitimacy.’’

Crowe and Peterson, in their lawsuit, said they “would not have chosen to fund that criticism but had no opportunity to prevent their mandatory dues from being used to pay for it.” They’ve asked a federal judge to declare Oregon’s mandatory bar membership unconstitutional or to order the bar to stop using the mandatory fees for political speech.

The bar in May voted to refund $1.12 each to lawyers who objected to the printing of the statement. The amount was calculated as the per-member cost of publishing that issue.

Attorneys for the bar pointed out that the statement wasn’t from the bar but from seven other lawyers’ groups and that it also announced support for the bar’s "commitment to the vision of a justice system that operates without discrimination and is fully accessible to all Oregonians."

Oral argument in the case is scheduled before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo at 10 a.m. on March 13.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian