No. 25-7209

Margaret Jean Lowery v. Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission

Lower Court: Illinois
Docketed: 2026-04-16
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: abstention-doctrine attorney-discipline due-process first-amendment judicial-immunity jurisdiction
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Whether a state may impose or enforce attorney discipline through a proceeding that denies the respondent meaningful access to the tribunal and fails to establish jurisdiction on an accessible, testable record.

2. Whether a state may impose attorney discipline based on alleged speech without establishing jurisdiction and without testing that speech in an accessible adversarial proceeding.

3. Whether federal courts may decline to provide prospective relief from enforcement of a disciplinary judgment entered without jurisdiction and without an accessible adjudicative process, on grounds of judicial immunity or abstention.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a state may impose attorney discipline through proceedings that deny meaningful access to the tribunal and fail to establish jurisdiction on an accessible record, and whether federal courts may decline prospective relief from such disciplinary judgments on grounds of judicial immunity or abstention

Docket Entries

2026-01-26
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due May 18, 2026)

Attorneys

Margaret Lowery
Ronald David Wilkinson — Petitioner