Texas Supreme Court building in Austin, Texas.Texas Cancels In-Person July Bar Exam, Offers Online October Test
Texas becomes the third jurisdiction in a week to pull the plug on its July bar exam, amid rising COVID-19 cases.
July 04, 2020 at 02:44 PM
3 minute read
Texas' July bar exam is the latest casualty of COVID-19.
The Supreme Court of Texas on Friday issued an emergency order canceling the exam, which was to be held in person on July 28 and 29. Examinees who were slated to take the test this month may either take the previously scheduled in-person exam on Sept. 9 and 10, or a newly announced online bar exam Oct. 5 and 6, the court said.
"In recent weeks, the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas has changed significantly, and the Court and the Board have received numerous comments from the Texas law school deans, members of the Texas Bar, recent law school graduates, and other members of the public expressing concerns regarding the administration of the July 2020 bar examination and urging other options," the order reads.
Texas is now the third jurisdiction in a week to pull the plug on its in-person July bar exam. The Florida Supreme Court on July 1 canceled the state's in-person July exam and announced a one-day online bar exam given August 18. The following day, the Tennessee Supreme Court canceled its in-person July bar exam and directed candidates to a planned in-person test given Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. 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.
Texas' high court voted 6-2 to cancel the July exam, though the majority were split on how to handle alternatives to the exam. The majority rejected calls by recent graduates to adopt an emergency diploma privilege that would allow them to be sworn into to bar with taking and passing the exam—a measure already adopted by Utah, Washington, and Oregon amid the pandemic. The deans of the state's 10 law schools had also requested that the court consider an emergency diploma privilege in a June 29 letter proposing alternatives to the July exam. However, Justices Nathan Hecht and Paul Green dissented from the emergency order, saying that they favor a diploma privilege.
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