Well, everything is racist according to the left, so really, are you surprised?
The Washington Supreme Court issued two orders on Monday endorsing “alternative pathways” for individuals to pursue a legal career, effectively eliminating the requirement of passing the bar exam. Justifying its decision, the court claimed that the traditional bar exam “blocks marginalized groups from entering the practice of law” and even went so far as to accuse the bar exam of having “racism and classism written into the test itself.”
The Bar Licensure Task Force, chaired by Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis and Seattle University Law School Dean Anthony Varona, studied options to the traditional bar exam following a year of pandemic-related bar exam modifications.
The Task Force concluded in their analysis that the traditional bar exam “disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks marginalized groups from entering the practice of law, and the traditional bar exam is at best minimally effective for ensuring competent lawyers.”
As well, the task force’s portion in the filing claimed, “In the 1960s, while the Civil Rights movement phased out formal racism, a ‘veiled or nonformal racism came in—racism under the guise of excellence, fairness, equal opportunity, all the things that make up the constellation of attitudes and standards we call merit.'” [sic] for the bar exam.
Justice Montoya-Lewis said in a statement of the case, “With these alternative pathways, we recognize that there are multiple ways to ensure a competent, licensed body of new attorneys who are so desperately needed around the state.”
Related: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Has a Horrifying View of the First Amendment
The only other state that approves alternatives to the bar exam for law licensure is Oregon. Something tells me California will follow suit soon enough. The ruling introduced three alternative pathways for legal licensing:
Law students could achieve practice readiness upon fulfilling 12 qualifying skills credits and completing 500 hours of work as licensed legal interns. Meanwhile, law clerks, enrolled in non-law school programs, would undergo additional standardized educational materials and benchmarks under tutor guidance. These requirements align with those of law school graduate apprenticeships and necessitate 500 hours of licensed legal internship to qualify for bar exam waiver.
In addition to deeming the bar exam racist and requiring changes to the legal licensing process, the minimum passing score for the bar exam must also be reduced from 270 to 266.
I can’t speak to whether the bar exam is the best means for law licensure, but I’m getting sick of wokeness deeming everything racist. This week alone it was claimed that medical devices are racist and that the institution of marriage is racist. Last year, the Biden administration literally claimed that roads are racist. Of course, you probably remember that math is also racist. Oh, and economic recessions — they’re racist, too. During the pandemic, if you didn’t want to wear a mask, you were racist.
The problem with accusing everything of being racist is that it undermines opposition to legitimate racism, but for the woke left, it doesn’t matter. They’re not trying to achieve equality or equity or whatever with these accusations. Their agenda is entirely political. That’s why Democrats continue to insist that election integrity efforts, like voter ID and signature requirements, are racist — because such things make it hard to cheat.
I bet you can’t wait to find out tomorrow what the next “racist” thing is.