Cyrus Zal v. Cecil Steppe, Warden Attorney General of the State of California

This difficult case presents serious questions as to the professional duties of a lawyer in court, the First Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, and the breadth of a contempt order. I concur in part in the judgment, and write separately because of some difference in my perspective and analysis from that of my two brothers.

The Order Violated

To begin with, so far as I can see, Cyrus Zal was in violation only of the in limine word-ban of the municipal court. He did not present a necessity defense and after the municipal court ruled on January 19, 1991 that a mistake of fact defense was the…