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The Liberty Counsel on Friday filed suit at the Florida Supreme Court to make The Florida Bar remain neutral in the homosexual adoption controversy.

Noteworthy is the fact that the state’s High Court should have to hear a case of this merit, seeing as the First Amendment already requires that the bar association remain neutral on controversial or political issues that have nothing to do with the regulation of attorneys.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Keller v. State Bar of California, ruled that mandatory bar associations like the Florida Bar cannot use member dues to support ideological causes which are not germane to the goals of regulating the legal profession and improving the quality of legal service.

But the Florida Bar Association apparently has not abided by its mandate. On January 30, 2009, the Florida Bar Board of Governors voted to authorize the Family Law Section to file an amicus brief in the Third District Court of Appeals against the 1977 Florida law which prohibits those actively engaged in homosexuality from adopting Florida’s children.

On February 9, 2009, the day Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the Florida Bar demanding that it remain neutral, John White III, President of The Florida Bar, stated publicly that the board “made a big mistake.”

But on February 19, White responded to Liberty Counsel, acknowledging that The Florida Bar did, in fact, authorize the filing of the amicus brief and stated that the Bar “has no intentions of rescinding its January 30 vote regarding this amicus brief.”

As the Liberty Counsel sees it, the Florida Bar has become an adversary to its attorneys and judges. Florida judges must be disqualified from a case if any extrajudicial activities cast doubt on the judge’s impartiality. Every judicial member of the Family Law Section has now been conflicted from hearing a case involving homosexual adoption.

“The First Amendment demands that The Florida Bar remain neutral on matters that do not relate to the regulation of attorneys,” says Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The bar cannot force attorneys and judges to pay mandatory dues and then position itself as an adversary against them on controversial ideological issues. Florida attorneys want peace, not war, but The Florida Bar has given us no choice, and we will vigorously defend our liberty under the First Amendment.”

Jennifer LeClaire is the editor of The Voice magazine and author of "Doubtless: Faith that Overcomes the World." You can also visit her at www.jenniferleclaire.org.