Discrimination in bar exam

Discrimination in the bar exam has had a long history dating back to the Progressive Era.[1] Established lawyers felt that up and comers were demeaning the profession by admitting ethnic minorities who lacked rank and class.[1] Thus they started using the bar exam as a method of excluding individuals and maintain high costs.[1] It has been hypothesized by a Slate Magazine article that the bar exam questions such as mental health questions are a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.[2] The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has agreed that these questions violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.[2] The Alabama Bar exam was sued for being discriminatory when only 28 blacks out of over 3000 lawyers in the state were black.[3] The NAACP and the ACLU have sued in various jurisdictions claiming that the Bar exam discriminates against blacks from practicing law.[3] A number of Law school graduates have explicitly called the bar exam racist.[4] Various studies have shown that there is differing rates in the passage of the bar exam by blacks as there is by whites.[5] In 2013, the Texas Bar was given a complaint on the discriminatory nature of the bar exam.[6] Critics of the bar exam are pleased to see cases like Iowa doing away with the bar exam in its state.[7]

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