Under a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, mandatory bar dues may be spent only on regulating the profession and improving legal services to the public.
It may often be safest for presidents of mandatory bar associations to say little, said James M. Finberg, president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, who writes an essay for his group's magazine.
But they are also challenging mandatory bar dues in states like California that make it hard for lawyers to "opt out" of subsidizing activities involving politics and lobbying.
A bar spokeswoman said presidents have been given up to $30,000 a year since 2006 for "secretarial assistance, miscellaneous expense and travel expense". The money for the stipend and the going-away party came from mandatory bar dues, which this year cost most practicing lawyers $420 each.
Years in the making, the First Step Act significantly scaled back certain sentencing laws — such as the so-called three strikes penalty for drug felonies, which was cut from a mandatory life behind bars to 25 years.
The charges Campbell faces are severe, of course, and if convicted, he could face a mandatory life sentence behind bars, according to his new lawyer.
Administrators at the nearly 20 schools that were accredited by the California bar complied with little complaint; many had already made bar preparation a mandatory part of their curriculum or had agreements with test prep companies that would help their students cram for the state's legal licensing examination.
"The drug war has devastated families and communities, and it is time for the healing to begin," said Mr. Papa, who himself spent 12 years behind bars on a mandatory minimum drug sentence.
Previously, under a 1986 law, 50 grams of crack (the weight of a candy bar) led to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years — the same sentence that applied to 5,000 grams of powdered cocaine (enough to fill a brief case).
SHOUTS & MURMURS instructions on the use of the sledgehammer, for those with sledgehammer anxiety, including terms ("thunk," "stuff," "wang," "smithereens"), models, safety tips from the National Sledgehammer and Broken Toe Society, and quotes from a sledgehammer enthusiast and a manufacturer who was barred from attaching a mandatory Web browser to his market-leading product.
In April of that year, Kirk Douglas asked a judge to take it easy in sentencing his grandson, who faced a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars.
