The effort of self-proclaimed white racist Matthew Hale to become an Illinois lawyer seemed to raise a good, clear issue: Can someone’s racial and religious views make him unfit to practice law?

Now the issues aren’t so clear. Hale didn’t just deride blacks and Jews as subhumans and “mud people.” He also had a string of run-ins with law enforcement and the courts, some of which he didn’t disclose on his bar application — grounds for bar membership rejection.