California’s highest court on Monday rejected requests to apply retroactively a rule that lowers the passing score for the state’s bar exam by 50 points.
The decision was a rebuke to California law school alumni and deans, who had argued that the passing score was too high, resulting in a historically low passing rate for the February bar exam of under 27%.
The state Supreme Court in mid-July said it would permanently lower the passing score from 1440 to 1390. The clerk to the California Supreme Court later explained its surprising “cut score” decision by stating that California was one ...