The California Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the State Bar must release racial data from the bar exam to a law professor who believes affirmative action may hurt minorities.
An appellate court had ruled in June that the professor, and the public, have a right of access to records of the lawyers’ organization that don’t reveal private information. But the state’s high court voted unanimously Thursday to grant review of the State Bar’s appeal. No hearing date has been scheduled.
The bar has collected racial information from test-takers since the 1970s, promising them confidentiality and publishing only overall results for racial and ethnic groups. But UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander wants individual information for a 25-year period, with names deleted, to test his thesis about private universities with minority admissions programs.
Sander said a study he conducted in 2004 indicated that preferential admissions policies place some minorities in top law schools where they are unable to compete effectively, decreasing their chances of passing the bar and becoming lawyers.
Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.