Supreme Court Releases Report on Leak of Bar Exam Topics

The Supreme Court of California on Wednesday released a final report from its investigation into the disclosure of the exam topics for the July 2019 bar exam. The court hired retired Presiding Justice Arthur G. Scotland and his law firm of Nielsen Merksamer to spearhead the investigation, the costs of which will be paid for by the State Bar. Among the findings in the 19-page report:

• The pre-exam disclosure of topics was an "inadvertent human error."
• The State Bar's leadership decided to disclose the topics to all exam participants without involving the Supreme Court in its decision-making process.
   
• The State Bar has implemented procedures and will provide training to prevent future breaches of the confidentiality of documents related to the bar exam.
   
• The State Bar should develop procedural protocols for making key decisions in an emergency.

View the full report here.

In this week's Law360 Judging A Book column (where judges draft book reviews),  Judge McKeown Reviews 'Conversations with RBG'

• Justice Ginsburg speaks extensively about her judicial philosophy, which she defines as an originalism born of the notion that “we are constantly forming a more perfect union, as the Founders intended.”

And here's something unusual: a dissental with 10 recused 9th Cir. judges.