John Marshall Harlan II

“ I would hold that a federal court may not deprive an attorney of the opportunity to practice his profession on the basis of a determination after the fact that conduct is unethical if responsible attorneys would differ in appraising the propriety of that conduct. I express no opinion about whether the Court of Appeals, as part of a code of specific rules for the members of its bar, could proscribe the conduct for which petitioner was disbarred. ”

“ On the other hand some, like the officials of the Mahoning County and Ohio State Bar Associations, would believe that encouraging a man to do work arguably at odds with his chief employer's interests is unethical. The appraisal of petitioner's conduct is one about which reasonable men differ, not one immediately apparent to any scrupulous citizen who confronts the question. ”

“ United States, 354 U.S. 278, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342, and Selling v. Radford, 243 U.S. 46, 37 S.Ct. 377, 61 L.Ed. 585. These decisions forbid Federal Courts From acting in total reliance on a state judgment. ”