Florida Board of Bar Examiners Re Question as to Whether Undocumented Immigrants Are Eligible for Admission to the Florida Bar

I reluctantly concur with the majority decision rendering an otherwise qualified class of applicants ineligible to practice law in Florida simply on the basis of their immigration status, but I do so only because the present state of federal and Florida law compels me to reach such an inequitable conclusion. Specifically, the Florida Legislature has failed to enact any law providing that unauthorized immigrants are eligible for certain public benefits, in this case a license to practice law, as authorized by 8 U.S.C. § 1621(d), and as the California Legislature recently did to clear the only…