California Refuses To Retroactively Lower Bar Exam Cut Score

Following up on yesterday's post, California Bar Exam News:  The Recorder, California Justices Won't Retroactively Lower Bar Exam Passing Score:

California’s Supreme Court said Monday it will not retroactively apply the lower passing score on the bar exam despite pleas to do so from hundreds of law school deans, graduates and state lawmakers.

In a letter to the state bar, court clerk Jorge Navarrete said that the justices are “unaware of any jurisdiction in the past decade that has lowered the exam passing score and applied that decision retroactively.”

The decision is a blow to many law school alumni who had lobbied the court to apply the lower score it adopted in July—139, reduced from 144—at least as far back as the February 2020 exam. An additional 376 applicants would have passed the February test if the lower cut score had been in place at the time, according to figures provided by the state bar.

• ABA Journal, Previous Bar Examinees Won’t Get Benefit of New California Cut Score, State Supreme Court Says
• Bloomberg Law, California Will Not Make Lower Bar Passage Threshold Retroactive
• Courthouse News Service, Passing Threshold for California Bar Exam Lowered, But It Won’t Be Retroactive
• Orange County Register, California Supreme Court Issues Order Finalizing Lower Passing Score For Future Bar Exam Takers