The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Opponents of Equal Opportunity Admissions Denied Access to California Bar Association Data

A state judge in California has ruled against two researchers' request to obtain data from the California Bar Association on the long-term success of law school graduates. Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow of California Superior Court for San Francisco County held that the state bar is not legally obligated to produce the information under state public record laws.

Richard H. Sanders, professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Joe Hicks, former governor of the California state bar, requested the data — which are broken down by race and ethnicity — for use in their research on whether minorities are harmed by equal opportunity initiatives because they are admitted to schools for which they are not ready. 

The Equal Justice Society, a California-based organization supporting equal opportunity, lauded the decision as a "victory for the law students whose private records are at risk of being released without their permission."

Sanders has released controversial studies in the past concluding that universities' equal opportunity admissions processes have led minority students to long-term failure.  He plans to appeal the judge's decision.