Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
The Virginia Tax Review has published Vol. 44, No. 2 (Winter 2025):
New York Times Op-Ed: A Pianist and a Law Professor Meet at the Bar …, by Jonathan Biss (Concert Pianist) & Christopher Serkin (Vanderbilt; Google Scholar):
Written in the 1780s, it both enlightens and confounds. Its brilliance is undiminished, but the intervening years make it feel distant, at times impossibly so, challenging modern interpreters to understand what an 18th-century text means today.
Sadly, our attempt to understand the U.S. Constitution has too often become a mechanistic search for a correct answer, with little nuanced judgment. That is thanks to the ascendance of originalism on the Supreme Court. The originalist justices believe the meaning of the document was fixed when it was enacted, as opposed to living constitutionalists, who argue that the meaning and application of the Constitution should adapt to a changing world and not be bound by the judgments of men who lived centuries ago.
New York Times Op-Ed: A Pianist and a Law Professor Meet at the Bar …, by Jonathan Biss (Concert Pianist) & Christopher Serkin (Vanderbilt; Google Scholar):
Written in the 1780s, it both enlightens and confounds. Its brilliance is undiminished, but the intervening years make it feel distant, at times impossibly so, challenging modern interpreters to understand what an 18th-century text means today.
Sadly, our attempt to understand the U.S. Constitution has too often become a mechanistic search for a correct answer, with little nuanced judgment. That is thanks to the ascendance of originalism on the Supreme Court. The originalist justices believe the meaning of the document was fixed when it was enacted, as opposed to living constitutionalists, who argue that the meaning and application of the Constitution should adapt to a changing world and not be bound by the judgments of men who lived centuries ago.
IU McKinney Law Mourns Professor Emeritus James P. White (obituary):
The IU McKinney School of Law community is sad to announce the passing of Professor Emeritus James P. White, who died May 1, 2025 at the age of 93.
Professor White devoted over 50 years to educating future lawyers at the IU McKinney School of Law. He joined the faculty in 1966 and became Professor Emeritus in 2002. He taught a primer in American law, as well as courses on the legal profession and comparative law.
Professor White served as a Consultant on Legal Education to the American Bar Association for 26 years and was instrumental in bringing that office to the IU Indianapolis campus during his tenure at the ABA. His work included a complete restructuring of the law school accreditation system. Because the accreditation process and the work of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar are driven by volunteers, one of his most important roles was recruiting, training, and nurturing hundreds of volunteers. Under his leadership, the ABA strengthened its quality and diversity standards for accreditation. The ABA held workshops for deans and other faculty, enhanced clinical legal education, and initiated programs to assist law schools in their development.
IU McKinney Law Mourns Professor Emeritus James P. White (obituary):
The IU McKinney School of Law community is sad to announce the passing of Professor Emeritus James P. White, who died May 1, 2025 at the age of 93.
Professor White devoted over 50 years to educating future lawyers at the IU McKinney School of Law. He joined the faculty in 1966 and became Professor Emeritus in 2002. He taught a primer in American law, as well as courses on the legal profession and comparative law.
Professor White served as a Consultant on Legal Education to the American Bar Association for 26 years and was instrumental in bringing that office to the IU Indianapolis campus during his tenure at the ABA. His work included a complete restructuring of the law school accreditation system. Because the accreditation process and the work of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar are driven by volunteers, one of his most important roles was recruiting, training, and nurturing hundreds of volunteers. Under his leadership, the ABA strengthened its quality and diversity standards for accreditation. The ABA held workshops for deans and other faculty, enhanced clinical legal education, and initiated programs to assist law schools in their development.
Ajay K. Mehrotra (Northwestern; Google Scholar), The Rise and Entrenchment of the Antitax Movement: A Review Article, 141 Pol. Sci. Q. ___ (2025) (reviewing Michael J. Graetz (Columbia), The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America (Princeton University Press 2024)):
Despite the vast and growing literature on U.S. conservatism, one aspect of the rise of American conservatism appears to have garnered less attention: the antitax movement that has been at the center of the Rightward pivot in U.S. and global politics. Micheal J. Graetz's new book, The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America, is thus a welcomed addition to the still sparse literature exploring the historical relationship between U.S. tax resistance and modern American conservatism.
Ajay K. Mehrotra (Northwestern; Google Scholar), The Rise and Entrenchment of the Antitax Movement: A Review Article, 141 Pol. Sci. Q. ___ (2025) (reviewing Michael J. Graetz (Columbia), The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America (Princeton University Press 2024)):
Despite the vast and growing literature on U.S. conservatism, one aspect of the rise of American conservatism appears to have garnered less attention: the antitax movement that has been at the center of the Rightward pivot in U.S. and global politics. Micheal J. Graetz's new book, The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America, is thus a welcomed addition to the still sparse literature exploring the historical relationship between U.S. tax resistance and modern American conservatism.
Reuters, Under Trump Pressure, ABA Poised to Suspend Law School DEI Rule into 2026:
The American Bar Association is set to extend the suspension of its law school diversity and inclusion rule through August 2026 as the organization faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration to abandon it diversity efforts.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar on Friday will consider a recommendation to further defer enforcement of its longstanding diversity rule, which was first suspended in February after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders meant to curtail DEI efforts in the government, the private sector and in higher education.
The higher education landscape “continues to change rapidly,” said Jenn Rosato Perea, the ABA’s managing director of accreditation and legal education. “These changes create extreme hardship for law schools seeking to comply with the law and with the accreditation standards,” she said on Tuesday, adding that the ABA will not evaluate law schools’ compliance with the diversity rule while it remains suspended.
ABA Journal, Continued Suspension of Diversity Standard Suggested by ABA Legal Ed Committee:
Reuters, Under Trump Pressure, ABA Poised to Suspend Law School DEI Rule into 2026:
The American Bar Association is set to extend the suspension of its law school diversity and inclusion rule through August 2026 as the organization faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration to abandon it diversity efforts.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar on Friday will consider a recommendation to further defer enforcement of its longstanding diversity rule, which was first suspended in February after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders meant to curtail DEI efforts in the government, the private sector and in higher education.
The higher education landscape “continues to change rapidly,” said Jenn Rosato Perea, the ABA’s managing director of accreditation and legal education. “These changes create extreme hardship for law schools seeking to comply with the law and with the accreditation standards,” she said on Tuesday, adding that the ABA will not evaluate law schools’ compliance with the diversity rule while it remains suspended.
ABA Journal, Continued Suspension of Diversity Standard Suggested by ABA Legal Ed Committee:
Yesterday, I published Preview Of The 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings: First-Time Bar Passage. Today, following up on last week’s post, Law School Rankings By Ultimate Bar Passage Rate (2022): this post projects next year’s 2026-27 U.S. News ultimate bar passage ranking using the current methodology:
Ultimate bar passage rate (7%): While passing the bar on the first try is optimal, passing eventually is critical. Underscoring this is the ABA’s accreditation standard that at least 75% of a law school’s test-taking graduates must pass a bar exam within two years of earning a diploma. …
[T]he ultimate bar passage rate indicator was newly calculated as a two-year, non-weighted average.
With that in mind, the ultimate bar passage ranking factor measures the average percentage of each law school’s 2020 and 2021 graduates who sat for a bar exam and passed it within two years of graduation, including alternative pathway graduates.
Both the first-time bar passage and ultimate bar passage indicators were used to determine if a particular law school is offering students a rigorous program of legal education. The first-time bar passage indicator was assigned greater weight because of the greater granularity of its data and its wider variance of outcomes.
Below is next year’s projected 2026-27 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes of 2021 and 2022. For comparison, the current 2025-26 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes 2020 and 2021 are also included.
| Rank | School | 2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Passage | 2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Passage | 2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Ranking |
| 1 | Marquette | 100.00% | 99.11% | 11 |
| 2 | Wisconsin | 99.58% | 99.47% | 3 |
| 3 | Chicago | 99.53% | 99.76% | 1 |
| 3 | Virginia | 99.53% | 99.21% | 9 |
| 5 | Harvard | 99.49% | 99.33% | 6 |
| 6 | Georgia | 99.22% | 99.17% | 10 |
| 7 | Duke | 99.11% | 99.35% | 5 |
| 8 | BYU | 99.07% | 99.51% | 2 |
| 9 | NYU | 99.03% | 99.25% | 7 |
| 9 | Yale | 99.03% | 99.00% | 12 |
| 11 | Stanford | 98.86% | 99.41% | 4 |
| 12 | UC-Berkeley | 98.83% | 99.23% | 8 |
| 13 | Northwestern | 98.67% | 98.00% | 21 |
| 14 | Penn | 98.43% | 98.78% | 14 |
| 15 | Kansas | 98.41% | 97.96% | 22 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 98.16% | 98.79% | 13 |
| 17 | William & Mary | 98.13% | 97.69% | 27 |
| 18 | Baylor | 98.06% | 97.68% | 28 |
| 19 | Michigan | 97.96% | 98.21% | 19 |
| 20 | Columbia | 97.84% | 96.45% | 39 |
| 21 | Univ. of Washington | 97.72% | 97.96% | 23 |
| 22 | Wake Forest | 97.70% | 97.03% | 32 |
| 23 | Notre Dame | 97.56% | 95.77% | 49 |
| 24 | Montana | 97.32% | 97.10% | 31 |
| 25 | Fordham | 97.31% | 97.78% | 25 |
| 26 | Texas | 97.28% | 98.57% | 16 |
| 27 | Vanderbilt | 97.21% | 97.79% | 24 |
| 28 | Boston College | 97.12% | 97.64% | 29 |
| 29 | Boston Univ. | 97.09% | 98.41% | 17 |
| 30 | Penn State-Dickinson | 96.94% | 95.65% | 52 |
| 31 | USC | 96.80% | 98.11% | 20 |
| 32 | Texas A&M | 96.79% | 98.69% | 15 |
| 33 | UCLA | 96.70% | 97.71% | 26 |
| 34 | Utah | 96.30% | 98.26% | 18 |
| 35 | Indiana (Maurer) | 96.28% | 96.59% | 37 |
| 36 | Oklahoma | 96.10% | 96.08% | 44 |
| 37 | St. John’s | 96.10% | 96.67% | 35 |
| 38 | George Mason | 95.94% | 97.47% | 30 |
| 39 | George Washington | 95.79% | 96.11% | 43 |
| 40 | Illinois | 95.76% | 94.42% | 68 |
| 40 | Ohio State | 95.76% | 96.72% | 34 |
| 42 | Georgetown | 95.66% | 96.37% | 40 |
| 43 | Washington Univ. | 95.63% | 96.34% | 41 |
| 44 | Emory | 95.43% | 95.04% | 64 |
| 45 | Texas Tech | 95.39% | 95.68% | 50 |
| 46 | Alabama | 95.33% | 96.86% | 33 |
| 47 | Washington & Lee | 95.30% | 94.77% | 66 |
| 48 | Loyola-L.A. | 95.22% | 96.55% | 38 |
| 49 | Arizona State | 95.16% | 93.94% | 74 |
| 50 | Northeastern | 95.09% | 95.16% | 63 |
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