Is a government attorney's duty of loyalty outweigh the right to petition the government?

Nor are we persuaded that this duty of loyalty is outweighed by Association members' constitutional rights. Association contends the First Amendment right to petition the government for the redress of grievances protects the act of filing a lawsuit against a governmental entity. There is no merit to this contention. While the right to file a lawsuit is included within the right to petition (City of Long Beach v. Bozek (1982) 31 Cal.3d 527, 183 Cal.Rptr. 86, 645 P.2d 137), there are numerous procedural and substantive requirements (e.g., statutes of limitation, sanctions) which not only limit this right, but also prohibit entire classes of potential plaintiffs. Similarly here the government attorney's duty toward a client clearly outweighs his or her First Amendment right to petition the government.