Subject: Re: "blatantly" unconstitutional
So the judge castigating the lawyer wasn't really appropriate.

Sure he was. Just because a client tells you to make a stupid argument in court doesn't mean the judge can't (or shouldn't) properly identify it as a stupid argument. The "bar member" comment was a way of signaling to the lawyer that this argument was real close to the line where the duty of candor to the tribunal would prohibit standing in open court and saying the rule is constitutional.