Kamala Harris Failed The California Bar On Her First Try

In July 1989, UC Hastings Had A 81.4% Pass Rate.

Vice President Kamala Harris graduated from UC Hastings Law School in 1989, and sat for the July 1989 California Bar. She did not pass on her first try. (Brett Stephens flagged this issue in his column.) According to Politico, Harris spent her 2L summer at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, which offered her a job as a deputy DA after she passed the bar. Harris was admitted one year later in June 1990.

In July 1989, the pass rate for Hastings was 81.4%. The Hastings Law News had this report.

Harris is in good company with other famous people who failed the bar.

And in a coincidence, then-Senator Biden spoke at Hastings in February 1989 during Harris's 3L year.

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Yes. Two past presidents & one person who should have become president are on that list. And, knock on wood, a future president.

(multiple governors and mayors too)

[Riva]

The party can try to erase this info, but they’ll never silence her infectious laugh. I suspect that in the end, notwithstanding her failed ultra radical record and plans, will do in her candidacy.

[Bubba Jones]

She's a horrible person and should not be president.

That said, the same applies to Trump.

And in a divided government, I'm not sure what difference it really makes whether Harris is president or some other random democrat. Maybe it's better for it to be Harris than Newsom or Witmer. The latter two might get something done.

[David Nieporent]

I encourage the GOP to say, "She has a weird laugh" repeatedly as their main argument against her.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Try referencing her emails too. Got to go with the old favorites.

[Frank Drackman]

It worked in 2016, try keeping her in the Basement like they did with Parkinsonian Joe in 2020

[CE]

81 million votes. Every presidential candidate should use the basement strategy from here on out. Release a pre-recorded 20 minute video with no questions every week or so.

[Riva]

They don't have to say anything. The laugh will do the work.

[Corve5]

Not a big surprise. UC Hastings is a TTT with an average LSAT of 160. Given that blacks get 10 free points, she probably got a 150-152 at most, meaning she's functionally retarded.

[LawTalkingGuy]

"150-152 at most, meaning she’s functionally retarded."

I don't think you know what "functionally retarded" means.

[Frank Drackman]

What does it mean?

[David Nieporent]

I don’t think you know what “functionally retarded” means.

Really? Because I suspect he has heard those words many many times in his life.

[Riva]

Careful there David. I've read your comments on separation of powers. stones and glass houses.

[wolfefan]

FWIW the bar passage rate at Josh's school is about the same.

[Libertatem]

This comment made me functionally retarded.

[Brett Bellmore]

Failing the bar exam on your first try is sort of the inverse of winning the special Olympics; Instead of celebrating being the best among the worst performing, you're being dinged for being the worst among the best performing.

But even the worst among the best performing is pretty good performing. She's not stupid, except when compared to really exceptional people.

I keep pointing this out when somebody calls a Presidential candidate stupid. Nobody who gets that far in politics is actually stupid. They may be foolish, have messed up personalities, psychopathic, have huge gaps in their knowledge... But they're not stupid. And you should never forget that.

[Bruce Hayden]

Bottom 18.6% of her class.

[Roger S]

Maybe not stupid, but not smart enough to be President of the USA. We do not need her exam scores to see that she was a below average attorney general, senator, and VP. She makes Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle look smart.

[Bubba Jones]

Are we supposed to believe that Trump is "smart"?

[Frank Drackman]

He does have a very very big Brain

[Brett Bellmore]

Yes, actually. You should believe that Trump is smart. A "stable genius"? Nah.

But smart? Yeah, absolutely. I've personally never understood the appeal of trash talking the opposition, but actually believing the trash talk has to be a thousand times more foolish. You can attack his morals, his taste in architecture, his policies, but claiming he's stupid is, well, stupid.

[LawTalkingGuy]

You can be stupid overall and have a certain level of cunning/manipulative abilities that help you get ahead in life. (Helps if you already have a lot of wealth and power out of the gate).

[Brett Bellmore]

If you have a lot of wealth and power out of the gate, and you're stupid, you know what happens?

You lose it, that's what happens.

You're just making excuses for calling somebody "stupid" despite substantial evidence to the contrary.

Why? I don't understand it: Being smart isn't any sort of moral virtue, it doesn't mean you're a good person, that you have good policies, can be trusted, nothing like that. It just means you're good at figuring out how to do things, not that you're trying to do the right things.

So, why this crazy determination to deny that Trump is smart? It appears to be of a piece with the urge to deny that he's wealthy, to claim that he's literally smelly... It's just silly trash talk.

[Sarcastr0]

If you have a lot of wealth and power out of the gate, and you’re stupid, you know what happens?

You lose it, that’s what happens.

Brett has never heard of the concept of a failson.

[Brett Bellmore]

The only reason Hunter isn't in a ditch someplace dead of an OD is that his dad has been carrying him all this time. You know that. Literally the only thing he's got going for him is that he's related to Joe.

Critical to the whole "failson" concept is the parents digging the kid out of the ditch repeatedly.

Trump's been out on his own for decades now, and actively managing his own money. If he weren't smart he'd be a nobody.

In a few years, sad to say, you'll be able to see what happens to Hunter without dad around. It won't be pretty.

[Sarcastr0]

A failson can also just be unremarkable and unambitious (and even have a drug problem if they keep it functional), but because once you have enough money you tend to fail up, they do fine.

Do you think Trump's kids are not stupid?

Jared Kushner acts a lot like a dim bulb would act. In the Middle East, with NAFTA, the opioid crisis, the VA, criminal justice reform.
But he was close enough to power the Saudis gave him some financial breaks...does that mean he's not stupid, given all the other fails?

Rudy's kid as well.

If I were closer to Silicon Valley...

[LawTalkingGuy]

I think it’s more likely that you’re making excuses to justify your belief that Trump is smart and thus worth supporting despite a lot of evidence to the contrary. He is an incredibly incurious and un-read bore who believes he is a genius, that’s a common trait of a stupid person.

He’s also stupid it the Cipollian sense: he often makes decisions that harm himself and others without accruing any benefit to himself.

[Martinned2]

Back when the VC was still good, prof. Kerr wrote a long blog post about his experience taking the California Bar Exam as a 46 year old law professor: https://reason.com/volokh/2018/07/12/taking-the-bar-exam-as-a-46-year-old-law/

[Dan Schiavetta]

In those days (I don’t know about now) California and New York were supposedly the hardest bar exams in the country. A couple of people from my class (I went to UC Davis) didn’t pass, and they were not stupid people.

I think failure is more associated with not being in the culture. If you grew up around lawyers you have a pretty good idea what you’re getting into. Otherwise it’s quite a jolt, a lot different from regular law school exams. Which is why there’s a bar exam prep industry.

[Don Nico]

I'm proud to say that my son passed both on his first try.

[Commenter_XY]

Mazel Tov!

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Always great to hear that a child overcame childhood indoctrination (superstition) to become a productive member of society.

[Ilya Snowman]

American lawyers, ones who passed a bar at least, are ipso facto productive members of society?

Yeesh... this claim is exceptionally dumb, even for you, AIDS.

I'd say that you ought to 'choose reason', but it's clear now that you don't (cannot?) actually understand what that entails...

[Noscitur a sociis]

In those days (I don’t know about now) California and New York were supposedly the hardest bar exams in the country.

My impression is that California historically has such a dramatically lower passing rate not because the exam is harder, but because there are so many graduates of unaccredited schools taking it.

[M L]

Agreed. Bar exam is a bit of a surprise for a lot of "smart slacker" types that populate law schools. Some people ace the LSAT and maybe ace law school, then fail the bar if they're not quite aware of what you're getting into because the bar is totally different, it is a bulk rote memorization exercise which requires putting the time in, more like what medical school is from what I'm told.

[Bruce Hayden]

I don’t think that it is quite that simple. Bar exam failures I have seen seem to fall into these categories:

1) not smart enough. And in CA that includes a number of state accredited Law School grads.

1)(a) Sometimes your mind doesn’t work quite right for the tests. Knew one woman, graduated from a top LS, who couldn’t pass. The questions were too open ended, and she was an Aspie/Autistic. Great sitting second chair, where she was unbeatable with research. Married to a LS colleague who can and does sit first chair.

2) Slackers. JFK, Jr was just getting laid too much to pass the bar the first couple times. Know one guy I worked with who has failed the NV bar 5 or so times. Just never buckled down long enough to finish a good Bar review class. For most of us, it just takes maybe 6 weeks of steady work. Cut corners, and your chances of failing increase.

3) Overstressers. Have known several very bright LS grads who blew out the first time through stress. Back when I first took the Bar exam, in CO, you could walk out of the MBE and turn in your test, up to a half hour before the end of each 3 1/2 hour test period. I was one of maybe a dozen who did so. During that last half hour, you were stuck there, because the stress level was apparently going through the roof, and people getting up and leaving would stress everyone else. Some people just can’t handle the pressure, at least the first time around. Most of these people figure it out, and pass the next time.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I met her younger sister Maya, whose outspoken face provided the background for the flyer for the “Women of Color at the Center” conference at Hastings in 1990. I got coaxed by my then-girlfriend into attending and as one of the few males there (and the only white one) I knew not to say anything!

[Lee Moore]

What’s an outspoken face ?

[Brett Bellmore]

I've heard "the outspoken face" used when somebody was a spokesperson for a cause, but the context does kind of suggest that the literal face is outspoken, doesn't it?

[Dan Schiavetta]

She was shouting, as if at a rally. The fact that she was quite good-looking probably played a part in the decision to use her.

[Brett Bellmore]

Probably should have just said "her shouting face", then. That's not quite what "outspoken" means.

[Swede425]

Meh. I'm not particularly critical of this.
I'm not a lawyer but I'm guessing a bar exam is no easy thing. And she did end up passing it. I don't think this is a useful cudgel, especially when there are plenty of things on her record that I think are worthy of criticism.

[rloquitur]

Yeah, but when you act like you're the smartest person in the room, it is funny to point it out. And you have to be pretty stupid to fail the bar. It isn't a hard exam if you've paid attention in law school.

I've actually passed three--two on my own, and I helped someone with an appeal on his essays and got him the two points he needed!!

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

I know people who have failed the bar, and I don't think I'd have characterized any of them as "pretty stupid".

[rloquitur]

For a crew that talked about Bush being the village idiot etc. etc., if your nominee flagged the bar, then we get to make fun of her. By the way, Michelle Obama flagged the Illinois bar, and you have to try to do that. Then she went on to Sidley and started whining about having to do scut work. I'll grant that Michelle Obama grew a little in her role as First Lady, but man, what an entitled bitch. Good thing that Harris isn't the spouse of a candidate---hard to think of her as a "lady"--tramp maybe, but lady, NFW.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Getting the bigoted shit kicked out of you by your betters for decades in the culture war has made you a disaffected, bitter, worthless clinger, rloquitur. Your replacement will improve the modern America you and the other right-wing rejects disdain.

[Ilya Snowman]

You get offended by facts, AIDS (not just the associated normative judgments above). That’s hysterical.

In your mind, is that a form of progress?

In any educated person’s mind, your judgment about that matter, one way or another, will be considered heavily discounted.

Enjoy being replaced now, AIDS, by (a) people who outbreed you and throw your values into the rubbish bin of history and (b) Americans who can now see, CLEAR AS DAY, that you are their mortal enemy and a totalitarian threat to their republic.

You’re going to try to run, AIDS. Don’t.

[NvEric]

My wife worked at her DOJ back then. Harris sided, primarily, against the agents on her staff to thwart their work.

Harris is primarily a DEI hire and nothing more. Her work as VP highlights a current threshold of intelligence to the position's demands where one does just enough to fulfill those requirements.

She's not a go-getter, but rather just a mimic of expectations to get to the next level and bases success as only obtaining and not doing. It's the position as the goal, not the effort once there.

[Mr. Bumble]

Peter Principle incarnate.

[CE]

She just received fawning media coverage about her energy and leadership in contacting 100 Democrat Party leaders in 10 hours after Biden dropped out, and having her staff track down all of the convention delegates to lock down enough votes to secure the presidential nomination. Apparently she just has to have a personal interest in the topic to get motivated. And the craven pursuit of political power is at the top of her list.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Your wife sounds like a bitter, partisan dumbass, NvEric.

But she probably deserves every miserable bit of her deplorable life.

[Ilya Snowman]

'Your wife sounds like a bitter, partisan dumbass...'

And you don't???

[LoganMankins]

Imagine caring about this.

It's like flexing your LSAT scores in front of people - like nobody cares outside of chronically online nerds.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Imagine blogging about it...

[SimonP]

I truly wish there was a mute button for VC contributors.

[Riva]

Well, I guess the party can delete this posted article. Might be a little harder to destroy the newspapers clippings but if Stalin could do it in the 30s, the democrats can handle it today.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

The only person I have observed to have deleted or censored published material at the Volokh Conspiracy is Eugene Volokh. He has done so repeatedly.

To his credit, he publicly acknowledged in writing that he had imposed censorship at his blog (which he is entitled to do; his playground, his rules).

But viewpoint-driven censorship is a bad look for anyone claiming to be a champion of free expression.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

What, your fingers were forced to click that link?

Poor, poor brain, to have so little control over its poor, poor fingers.

[Darth Buckeye]

Biden spoke at my law school commencement in June of 1985. This was at the Ohio State University College of Law (was before it was known as the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University and before OSU was referred to as “THE”).

[Frank Drackman]

Which one of Kramer’s stories did he pass off as his own? The “Pants” Story? When he remodeled his Apartment in “Levels”? The requirement to Mulch?

Frank

[Drewski]

Compare to Trump, who didn't even get accepted into grad school and spends money to keep his academic records secret. I don't think this stuff is particularly important, but if it is Trump's record is the worse. Besides, we can all see Trump is an anti-intellectual boor; we don't need transcripts from the 1960s to gauge his academic chops. Only one of the major candidates can construct complete sentences reliably.

[Frank Drackman]

Trump was too smart to waste precious years in his 20’s sitting in some class listening to some jag-off, don’t know shit anyway, he wanted to work, get some change in his pocket, those College girls are still the same age,
Man was I happy when both my daughters got into Military Pilot training instead of some bullshit Grad program, they’re Engineers and seems like it’s a requirement, Military too, but they’re smart, one already with the Airlines and other following in a few years

[Frank Drackman]

Einstein didn’t get into Grad School right away, wonder what ever became of him?

[Dr. Ed 2]

82% versus 50% speaks volumes.

[CJColucci]

Presumably JB passed on the first try. Kamala Harris didn't. But she has a body of legal work as a prosecutor and as a state Attorney General that she can point to. JB has --- what?

[hobie]

As Blackman happily crowed yesterday: He was published in The American Spectator

[Riva]

Good point. Better have the party delete that article.

[Bob from Ohio]

"body of legal work as a prosecutor and as a state Attorney General"

Butting pot smokers in jail.

AG and big city DA [as compared to Asst. DA] are political/administrative posts. So she hasn't done "legal work" in 30 years.

[CJColucci]

AG and big city DA [as compared to Asst. DA] are political/administrative posts. So she hasn’t done “legal work” in 30 years.

And she won't be doing it as President. So what's the point?

[Bob from Ohio]

IDK, what was CJColucci's point?

[LawTalkingGuy]

Probably that Josh Blackman is someone who shouldn't be criticizing other's accomplishments or lack there of in the legal field, due to his own limited abilities, accomplishments, and knowledge.

I mean we're talking about a guy who has demonstrated shocking ignorance of pretty basic legal concepts and issues that lawyers deal with everyday even though he purports to speak authoritatively.

[Drewski]

I think it's okay to criticize a presidential candidate's qualifications without personally holding better ones. When it comes to qualifications, what matters is how the candidates stack up against each other, not against individual voters or pandering bloggers. On that score, Blackman fails to even offer a comparison, because he knows Harris is far more qualified (even taking into account Trump's actual Presidential experience, which mostly consisted of watching TV and tweeting).

[Brett Bellmore]

The problem here is that you can't really assess somebody's qualifications to be President apart from what they'd be trying to DO in the office. The most qualified doctor on the planet is the wrong doctor to pick if he's intent on killing you; His skill and knowledge will just make him more effective at putting you six feet under.

So, let's say, just for the sake of argument, that Harris is actually a more competent administrator than Trump. She'll more competently suppress energy production, flood the country with illegal aliens, orchestrate a federal takeover of the economy, and attack all the civil liberties she disapproves of. Yay!

[LawTalkingGuy]

Tim Tebow can criticize the career of Mark Sanchez and the criticism likely isn’t even wrong. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be funny coming from him.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I learned today that Josh Blackman had more than a million credentials that stamped his ticket to a faculty position at one of America's worst law schools, South Texas College of Law Houston.

(And former professor Volokh watched that transaction and thought, "I need to get this guy on my blog!")

[LawTalkingGuy]

*20.

[Bob from Ohio]

Correct. Mea culpa.

[steeltown lad]

There certainly are capable attorneys who fail the California bar exam first try, yet go on to be capable lawyers.
But it's one piece of the mosaic. And I do invite you to look at her "body of legal work as a prosecuter" for the years she spent as a line Asst. DA in the San Francisco office, before Willie Brown slotted her into the elected District Attorney slot. I believe you'll find that she took a grand total of one case to trial during that three year period.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Anyway, he links to a list of rather successful people, including more than one president, who failed on the first try.

[rloquitur]

As state AG, she fucking leaked confidential info of donors to various social causes. But that may have been a feature not a bug. How fucking ignorant are you that you don't even know this and tout her working as an AG.

[Sarcastr0]

Did she leak anything?

There was a Supreme Court case about a disclosure policy that was decided based on the risk of leaking, but that's nowhere near the same thing as actually leaking.

[rloquitur]

Read the case---shit got out.

[Sarcastr0]

You then: "she fucking leaked confidential info"

You now: "shit got out."

So being asked to put up, you folded like origami.

And from the factual record of the case, no lower court finds purposeful disclosure.

Come on, man.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Bitter clingers gonna flail.

Disingenuous flailing isn't a great strategy, but for our society's vestigial wingnuts it's gotta work better than the truth.

[Social Justice is neither]

So you think keeping people in prison past their term for cheap labor is a selling point? If not that, what exactly has she done post Willie Brown?

[hobie]

Is there any way to find out the bar pass rate for students from The South Texas School of Law?

[Bob from Ohio]

2023 first-time bar passage rate: 80.3%

[hobie]

Much obliged. May I ask where you got that? I'd like to do a little research

[Frank Drackman]

I hear AlGore invented this thing called the Internets, try that

[David Nieporent]

Yes. But it wouldn't be very meaningful as a point of comparison since they almost certainly take the Texas bar rather than the California one.

[CE]

How about the bar pass rate for correspondence students for the University of American Samoa?

[Orbital Mechanic]

Now let's look at Trump's curriculum vitae. No you don't want to you say? Why not? It isn't relavent?

Because we are talking about Harris. I see.

So Harris struggled as a student and then passing the bar. She ultimately did pass, and went on to a distinguished career. In other words it seems it didn't come easy for her.

Apparently some people think that a qualified presidential candidate should only be someone where everything came easy for them. I happen not to agree and I think most voters do as well.

[Ilya Snowman]

'In other words it seems it didn’t come easy for her'.

It didn't come easy for her because she couldn't hack it, including in the professional role.

The West, and Americans particularly, are post-qualification when it comes to 'choosing' our leaders (ie figureheads); there can be no worthwhile debate about the candidates' records when all sides must grasp at straws to do so. The whole 'debate' about this regarding Harris and Trump is just another waste of time.

[rloquitur]

"Even though no one else ever saw them, dumb da da da dumb."

JD Vance, "smaaaart".

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Does anyone know how much cash it took for Leonard Leo to buy a faculty position at South Texas College of Law Houston for Josh Blackman?

Does anyone know how many American law schools sell faculty positions?

How many Volokh Conspirators are contributors to Project 2025? How many of them have publicly acknowledged their role in that project?

Thank you.

[Frank Drackman]

I thought lawyers only asked questions they already knew the answers to? Maybe you really are Jerry Sandusky.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Your insights concerning lawyers are so striking you just might be former professor Volokh's sock puppet.

Or Blackman's.

That's a tough call.

[Bored Lawyer]

In my 28 years of practice, I have seen two kinds of lawyering. One kind finds anything and everything they can think of to throw against the other side, throws it, and see if it sticks. We can call this the kitchen-sink approach.

The other tries to find the one or two strongest arguments and presses them as hard as they can. We can call that the targeted approach.

I have generally found the targeted approach is the most effective.

Republicans seem to be taking the kitchen-sink approach against Kamala Harris. A mistake, in my opinion. The chances of my voting for her are zero. But on my list of reasons, her having failed the bar exam on her first try is way, way down there. Like No. 101 on the list of 100.

[Brett Bellmore]

There being more than one Republican, they're capable of multitasking. But, yes, if the RNC seized on this as a major talking point, that would be a mistake.

[David Nieporent]

Republicans seem to be taking the kitchen-sink approach against Kamala Harris. A mistake, in my opinion.

Well, to be fair, the long campaign season typically involves starting with the kitchen sink, seeing what actually does stick, and then focusing on that. Trump's problem is that because Harris came in so late as the nominee he doesn't really have time for that. He doesn't have seven or eight months to try to define her. (And because he engaged in projection, he assumed that nobody could voluntarily give up power, and so didn't prepare for this contingency like a competent campaign would've.)

[Bored Lawyer]

There are three obvious lines of attack:

1. She was in on the cover-up of Biden’s mental incapacity, and in fact flouted her duty to uphold the Constitution in doing so.
2. She was in charge of Biden’s disastrous border policy and would continue it, if not make it worse.
3. She has a radical voting history and politics.

She also has a grating personality, but for that, Trump should step back and let her speak. He did that with Biden and it worked really well.

If the above does not work for Trump, I don’t know anything else that will.

That’s my advice to the GOP. Whether Trump and his lackeys have the discipline to focus there remains to be seen. I am not holding my breath, although I must say he did really well in the Biden debate in letting Biden destroy himself. TBD.

[Brett Bellmore]

My advice to Republicans would be: The fact that Trump is running will turn out Democrats, accept that, and concentrate on giving REPUBLICANS every reason to show up at the polls for a change.

It used to be a given that Republicans would turn out, and you hoped for bad weather so they wouldn't bother. But that hasn't been true for a while, what with early voting, mail voting, and massive ballot harvesting drives.

Now it's Republicans who have the turnout problem. Do something about it, give Republicans reason to be enthusiastic about voting for the ticket.

[windycityattorney]

Brett: Haven't you heard? The GOP argument is that American is a shit hole now, but it was better in the past. So they are going to bring America back to its former glory.

I know off hand dozens of things the modern GOP is against. I only know a few things they are for.

That will be the contrast in the upcoming election. Presumably Kamala will give speeches about what she is FOR. Trump, per the last 4years...will bitch and moan and complain about what he is against (real or imagined). This is a terrible strategy but you can't change Trump.

Nor can you change Vance -who is wildly unpopular in general and especially among female voters. And its going to get worse. Vance is going to be tied directly to project 2025 because the dipshit wrote a foreword for a book written by the President of the Heritage Foundation which is coming out in September. JD Vance is not that popular but project 2025 is even less popular. Absent some major fuckup by Kamala or a terrible VP choice, I give the D's the advantage come November.

[Roger S]

Nobody thinks that Harris can do anything. She will just do as she is told, just like Biden.

[Bored Lawyer]

Which only strengthens the border argument. If Harris is elected, then the same people telling Biden what to do will tell Harris. Which means the same border policy.

[David Nieporent]

You understand that he's referring to the Jews, right?

[Bored Lawyer]

I don't know that's true. And even if it is, whoever has been calling the shots has been doing a lousy job.

[David Nieporent]

From his blog from Sunday when Biden dropped out:

Joe Biden is a Puppet

Can there be any doubt?

Nearly all of Biden top staff were Jews. There is no record of his going against his Jewish handlers. While Biden had a moderate record in the Senate, as President, he always shifted to what the Jews want.

Last week they leaked a story that they had drafted a letter for him to drop out of the campaign. Biden repeated denied that he would drop out.

They just presented him with the letter and he signed it. Proving that he will do what he is told.

I am sure they will explain to Kamala Harris that they created her political position, and they can just as easily destroy it. She better do what she is told.

https://blog.singularvalues.com/2024/07/joe-biden-is-puppet.html

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Roger S fits right in at this bigot-embracing, right-wing blog.

And he gets a special pass on his bigotry (especially the antisemitism) from Blackman, Volokh, and Bernstein because . . . no need for me to explain it, everybody knows.

Carry on, faux libertarian clingers.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

You sound like an old, white, disaffected, bigoted, religious, socially conservative white Republican from the can't-keep-up backwaters. (How many did I get right?)

When assessing whether anyone should credit your advice on politics, consider that you are (1) part of the defeated side in the American culture war, (2) arguing for the losing side at the modern American marketplace of ideas, and (3) on the wrong side of history.

[Ilya Snowman]

'modern American marketplace of ideas'.

LOL.

AIDS, sometimes you are unwittingly hysterical.

Aren't you the one who is always harping on about abandoning superstitions, fairy tales, and other narratives about fictitious things?

Regarding point (3), yours is the non-breeding lot, one whose values are now being trashed, globally, as harmful and inferior. You are almost history, simpliciter. The future belongs to a great many Chinese authoritarians, jihadis, and African third-worlders who will ensure the death of your values and culture. (THANKS AMERICA, for helping to ensure that that's the case.)

[Social Justice is neither]

You left out #4: hammer home the silence in answer to "what has she actually done? How has she made your lives better?" and rebut the lies Democrats tell.

This particular line is just a counter to the "she's so amazingly smart" narrative that the media bnb propagandists are spinning and as such it is fine;if it is an actual stand alone argument then yes, it is stupid.

[LawTalkingGuy]

If you have 10 assignments of error you actually have zero.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I always am struck by small-town law firms who place a sign at the front lawn advertising 18 or so unrelated areas of practice for two lawyers. Why not just declare 'we will try to do just about anything for you if the check clears?"

During most of my legal career, 90 percent of my practice involved a single, relatively narrow area of law, and it was a constant struggle to stay informed concerning that field. Someone with more than a handful of "specialties" is . . . undesirable.

[Frank Drackman]

I passed my Med School Boards first try, Part 1 after Second Year, Part 2 after Third, and Part 3 during Internship, Fail it once you had to sit out a few months and take it again, twice and you had to do the year over, 3 Fails and you were done. Did have to repeat a year, seems some Attendings didn’t like my charming personality, but what do they call the last guy in his Med School Class? The extra year screwed me with Anesthesia, they started limiting your Bored Certification to 10 years, thought of forming my own Board, like Randy Paul but it’s easier to just write the check
Anesthesia you had to take a practice Board Exam every year, do bad they made your life miserable, always scored top 5%, not too difficult, Airway, Breathing, Circulation, all of the Big Syringe, 1/2 of the smaller, turn the Purple Vaporizer 2 clicks, turn on the Ventilator, Oral Exam also, (love doing Oral Exams)

Frank

Frank

[Sarcastr0]

A certain kind of criticism reflects more on the criticizer than the target.

[Not Unreasonable]

Passing the bar first time around is overrated. Just look at cousin Vinny. He didn’t pass till his sixth try and Kamala is just as smart.

[Bored Lawyer]

But is she at "Yute?" At 60 I doubt it.

[CE]

Do you know what they call someone who graduates last in his class at medical school?

Doctor.

[Orin S. Kerr]

While we're on the topic of Presidential candidates taking exams:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/maryanne-trump-barry-secret-recordings/2020/08/22/30d457f4-e334-11ea-ade1-28daf1a5e919_story.html

********
[Trump's sister, federal court of appeals judge Maryann Trump] Barry told how she tried to help her brother get into college. “He was a brat,” Barry said, explaining that “I did his homework for him” and “I drove him around New York City to try to get him into college.”

Then Barry dropped what Mary considered a bombshell: “He went to Fordham for one year [actually two years] and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams.”

“No way!” Mary responded. “He had somebody take his entrance exams?”

“SATs or whatever. . . . That’s what I believe,” Barry said. “I even remember the name.” That person was Joe Shapiro, Barry said.
***********

Or maybe this is different, as it's an example of a candidate not taking an exam.

[Vryedni]

"If Kamala lacked the intelligence to hire someone to take her Bar exam, and the inherited wealth to pay for it, that's on her."

- Every Trump Supporter

[Publius_2020]

This is rather old news. Her bar record has always stated that she was admitted in June 1990, a clear sign of failing the bar on the first attempt. Frankly, there isn't any doubt she was a mediocre student at a mediocre law school. Her parents have Ph.Ds from Berkeley, and her father was a tenured professor at Stanford at the time. Yet she went to Hastings. That doesn't happen unless she was a mediocre student.

Then she fails the bar, and ends up in Oakland at the country DA. That's a "all I could manage" type of position.

The real grist, which has gone unexplored, is what kind of lawyer she was between 1990 and 1998. That was just 'pre-Internet,' and the Alameda County records aren't really digitized from that era. The hagiography is filled with friends who genuflect, but the odds that a mediocre law student who failed the bar suddenly became the Clarence Darrow of Oakland are low.