This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Hale (P) is a public advocate of white supremacy and the leader of an organization (formerly called the World Church of the Creator) dedicated to racism and anti-Semitism. P seeks to be admitted to practice law in the state of Illinois. The Illinois State Bar requires applicants to demonstrate proficiency in the law on a written bar examination and to pass a character and fitness exam. The Committee on Character and Fitness (D) found him unfit to practice law. P challenged that determination before the Illinois Supreme Court and then the Supreme Court of the United States, claiming among other things that D had violated his First Amendment rights by acting solely on the basis of his viewpoints. Unsuccessful, D turned to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois with a fresh lawsuit again raising his First Amendment claim, among other constitutional challenges. The district court concluded, in part, that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not permit it to review the earlier decision of the Illinois Supreme Court. P appealed.

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