Tennessee has pulled the plug on the in-person bar exam scheduled for July 28 and 29, citing rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on July 2 issued an order canceling the test on the grounds that the judicial branch has an "obligation to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19." Tennessee made earlier plans to offer an in-person bar exam in both July and Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Now, examinees who planned to take the July test will be placed in the later sitting.

"The Court has determined that the potential benefits of administering the examination do not justify the risk of assembling groups of people in limited space for up to nine hours per day over a period of two days, even if all precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are implemented," reads the court's order, which notes that July 1 brought Tennessee's highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases.

That decision came down one day after the Florida Supreme Court canceled the state's in-person July exam and announced a one-day online bar exam given August 18. Also on July 1, Massachusetts' high court canceled the state's planned September in-person bar exam and instead will offer the two-day online exam being designed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners on Oct. 5 and 6. It joins Washington, D.C., and Maryland in the move to the online October test.

"We understand that this has been a difficult time for recent law school graduates and the [Tennessee Board of Law Examiners] is committed to making the Uniform Bar Examination available to all July 2020 applicants before the end of the year, absent any new 'safer at home' orders or other significant changes," said board president Bill Harbison in a prepared statement.