May 1998 - January 1999: White Supremacist Denied Law License

Matthew Hale, the leader of the overtly racist World Church of the Creator (WCOTC—see May 1996 and After), graduates from law school and passes the Illinois bar exam. However, the Illinois State Bar Association rejects Hale’s application to practice law because of his “character and fitness.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 9/1999] The commissioners deny Hale’s application because of his published rhetoric, which they find in “absolute contradiction” to the required conduct of lawyers. A report issued by the Committee on Character and Fitness quotes racial slurs from the WCOTC Web site as evidence of Hale’s “bad character.” [Anti-Defamation League, 2005] In the January 1999 issue of WCOTC’s monthly newsletter “The Struggle,” Hale implores his fellow “Creators” to mobilize themselves in the event that his appeal of the ruling is denied, writing: “I call upon all White Racial Loyalists, whether inside or outside of the Church, to stand united in their opposition to this further attempt to disempower our Race in the court of law. While the time has not yet come for protests and other public shows of support for this struggle, the time is now to galvanize the entire White Racial Loyalist community in the event that the Hearing Board also declines my certification. I need all of you to spread news of what is happening throughout our community. For now, these events must only serve to motivate all of us even further to do our utmost to bring about the destruction of the Jewish system.” [Anti-Defamation League, 7/6/1999]