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Constitutional Law

Bar admission denied for applicant who won’t take constitutional oath

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 9, 2024, 2:22 pm CST

A bar applicant who won’t take an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and the New York Constitution has failed to demonstrate that she has the character and fitness to become an attorney, according to a New York appeals court.

The applicant was a 30-year-old Nevada resident who graduated from law school in 2018 and passed the New York bar exam in July 2022, according to the memorandum and order decided and entered Dec. 5 by the Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court. She was not identified in the per curiam order.

The woman “has made plain that she cannot unequivocally take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation that she will support” the state and federal constitutions, the appeals court said.

A member of the appeals court’s character and fitness committee had referred the matter for a formal hearing after an interview and an investigation. The applicant waived her right to a hearing.

The applicant has the burden of demonstrating that she has the character and fitness for admission, and she has not met the burden, the appeals court said.

Hat tip to the Legal Profession Blog, which noted the order.