Massachusetts Bar Applicant Suing State for "Unlawful" Question about Same-Sex Marriage

It would appear someone doesn't quite grasp the concept that a lawyer

is obligated to follow the laws.

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by: oddjob @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 07:55:03 AM CDT

And by the looks of it

He didn't do such a steller job on the rest of the exam either.

<3 Sam

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by: Samie D @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 08:14:49 AM CDT

That was my take.

Forget about the question: what about all the other questions he missed?  The guy's a dunce and we can be grateful that he missed the question, for whereas soceity don't need another lawyer, we especially don't need another incompetent lawyer.

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by: Holly Capote @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:23:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Excuses

Unless a third of the exam was  on gay marriage questions (imagine that possibility!), he has a lot more to worry about and nary a leg to stand on in court. The max score is 400, and is divided evenly between Massachusetts and multistate/federal questions.

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by: DC @ Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 00:37:18 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Typical Republican...

Ignore the law and then blame someone else when things don't go your way.

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by: Wade, MD @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:02:33 AM CDT

A bar exam

His "holy book" be it the bible, koran or whatever, is his belief and it is not the law.  The law was made by arguing and hashing out all the issues, religious, civil ect.  Then it was passed.  Getting a license to practice law is about recognizing the current laws and if an applicant lawyer wannabe does not want to uphold the law, then he fails.

Make alot of noise. Life is short.

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by: Charley6 @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:04:25 AM CDT

So what was the question?

I think it would be illuminating to see what the actual bar exam question was.

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by: Xwards @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:07:13 AM CDT

I'm sure it actually said no such thing

"Dunne said the question required applicants to 'affirmatively accept, support and promote homosexual marriage and homosexual parenting.'"

This sounds like the stock christianist response to anything that even prohibits killing of those who might be gay, much less demands equality.

I can't believe that a bar exam question would require anyone to 'promote' anything as part of an answer.  Of course, if, somehow, it actually did, the christianist might actually have a point.

Still, I have a sneakin' suspicion that somewhere on the bar exam were questions about religious liberty that dealt in some fashion with the general right not to submit to dictatorial christianity (a right that I'm sure this clown does not believe that 'the people' have.) I have a feeling he didn't complain about any of that.

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 10:04:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

stop the insanity

KatRose,
That was my take too.  A question was probably asked which involved that fact that marriage equality exists in MA period and it affended his...what??...that he was living in the 21st century?

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 11:19:57 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Indeed. The more I think about this clown...

the madder I get.

I took (and passed) the bar in 1998 - in Texas, a good bit before Lawrence v. (and just a month or so before Lawrence and Garner were arrested.)  Bowers v. Hardwick was still the law of the land.  I don't remember if there was a question on either the multistate or the Texas essays specifically about - or applying - that decision, but, however wrong I *knew* it was even then, I damn well knew what the accrurate-in-law-as-of-1998 answer would be.

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 14:41:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Dunne should get tossed out on his ear...

...the bar exam is a test of the examinee's knowledge of the law, not whether or not he agrees with the law.  I hope that he is hit with court costs and attorney's fees.

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by: raj @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:16:31 AM CDT

If you cannot pass the test, you cannot practice law

Seems pretty open and shut.  They don't make exceptions for "if you disagree with this law."  He didn't make the grade.  Case closed.

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by: Phil @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:46:00 AM CDT

pick one of 49 OTHER states...ya little BIGOT

I say we lucked out and got this putrid little oaf outside the MA legal system. This is like the bible-thumping pharmacists who decide women aren't allowed morning after pills after being raped. If that was my family member or friend who was raped, I'd pick one of those pencil necked geek pharmacists up, and beat the hell out of him until the morning after pills dropped out of his pockets.

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by: underbear1 @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 10:50:33 AM CDT

Off topic, but a head's up from the UK Guardian

Gay Poles head for UK to escape state crackdown

http://observer.guar...

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by: raj @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 10:54:27 AM CDT

Apparently, he is confusing the roles of the branches.

Just like his hero, Mr. Cheney.  If he wants to challenge the law, let him be elected to the legislature by the people (which I doubt would happen).  My guess is he wants to become a judge and overturn the law.  But if your bar exam score is that low already...

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by: jtperkin @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 11:48:14 AM CDT

If His Bar Exam Schor is that Low...

...Then Bush will probably nominate this bozo for the Supreme Court.

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by: TomTallis @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 16:55:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ugggghhhhh

Don't give Rove any ideas.

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 19:40:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Any idea what the question was?

What was actually asked on the exam? I doubt it was "I solemnly swear to faithfully uphold the homosexual agenda: True/False" The only information about the test in the artiel is this guy's obviously biased interpretation.

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by: Narc @ Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 12:42:08 PM CDT

All the question had to do

was posit any old hypothetical involving a married same sex couple and BOOM! there he would be forced to deal with the law of the land here.

Imagine that!

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by: oddjob @ Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 00:58:51 AM CDT

Um, there was NO November 2006 bar exam given in MA

However, there was a gay marriage question on the February 2007 exam.  Check out page 5:
http://www.mass.gov/...

It's basically a marital property question that is no different from all the other previous marital property questions on the past exams I just looked through (except the spouses are Mary and Jane).  And considering the test had a total of 10 written questions (in addition to the 200 multiple choice questions), it seems more like the guy didn't pass because he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not because he refused to answer the question.  What a whiner.  He must not have wanted to be a lawyer that bad.  When you decide to make up your own rules on something as important as the state bar exam, you deserve your fate.  Dude needs to learn how to choose his battles more wisely.

BTW, I'm taking the CA bar on July 24, 25, 26 - wish me luck!

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by: Sanchito @ Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 02:24:36 AM CDT

I don't know, but...

The exam might have been given in July or Aug of 2006, and the results not announced until November.  Usually bar exams are given twice a year, but it can take forever for the results to be announced.

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by: raj @ Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 04:32:45 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is the bar question.

This is the bar question:

----------------

Mary and Jane, both attorneys, were married two years ago in Massachusetts. The day before their marriage, Mary and Jane each fully disclosed their assets to the other and signed an antenuptial agreement (the "Agreement") in which each of them agreed that if they were ever divorced (i) they would divide any joint marital property evenly, (ii) they would not seek or accept any property that the other brought into the marriage, and (iii) they would not seek or accept child support or alimony from the other. The Agreement was drafted and reviewed by an attorney representing Jane. Mary did not hire an attorney to review the Agreement as she "trusted Jane." At the time of the marriage Jane had a two year old adopted child, Philip, and Mary was three months pregnant. When Mary gave birth in Boston six months later to Charles, Mary and Jane were listed on his birth certificate as his parents. Mary has treated and referred to Philip as her son, although she did not adopt him. Mary, Jane, Philip and Charles lived in a house in Boston owned by both Mary and Jane. The down payment for this house came only from Mary.
Jane was the sole supporter of the family, while Mary stayed at home taking care of Philip and Charles. Mary had no savings, while Jane had over a million dollars in savings from an inheritance that she received when her mother died three years ago. Yesterday Jane got drunk and hit Mary with a baseball bat, breaking Mary's leg, when she learned that Mary was having an affair with Lisa. As a result, Mary decided to end her marriage with Jane in order to live in her house with Philip, Charles, and Lisa. What are the rights of Mary and Jane?

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by: emily2 @ Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 10:11:07 AM CDT

All he had to do

was pretend that the exam was accidentally misprinted and that "Jane" was supposed to be "James".  Shouldn't be hard for someone like him to construct yet another world with little contact with reality.

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by: Jami @ Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 10:35:25 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Complaint/Picture

Anyone still paying attention to this thread might be interested in the federal complaint filed by this almost-lawyer: http://scienceblogs.....  Funny shit.

The New England School of Law will soon wipe him off their website... but they haven't yet: http://www.nesl.edu/... (at bottom).  Based on my totally inappropriate, based on sterotypes, etc., psychoanalysis premised only on examination of court papers and photographs (good enough for Bill Frist...), I think he likely has a really bad case of internalized homophobia.

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by: tony @ Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 00:24:16 AM CDT