News Roundup
Weekly Briefs: Bar group that ditched drag trivia event criticized; Black law schools guide drops overall rankings
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Social justice group criticizes bar drag event cancellation
The nonprofit Southern Coalition for Social Justice is forwarding a letter with more than 100 signatures to a bar group that canceled a drag show trivia night, citing “political” reasons. The letter says the decision by the North Carolina Bar Association “flies in the face of the NCBA’s previously stated commitment to promote diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity for all.” The bar group is not the state agency known as the North Carolina State Bar. (Law360, Above the Law)
Black Guide to Law Schools 2023 drops overall rankings
Lawyers of Color has dropped its overall rankings in its Black Guide to Law Schools 2023. Instead, the guide allows prospective law students to look at a variety of measures when considering law schools, including annual tuition, grants and scholarships, the percentage of Black law students, the percentage of Black students awarded JDs, employment data, public-interest jobs, clerkships and bar pass rates. The top law school for the number of JDs awarded to Black graduates, for example, is Howard University, followed by Texas Southern University and North Carolina Central University. (Lawyers of Color press release, Above the Law, Black Guide to Law Schools 2023)
Tennessee drag show ban held unsconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker of the Western District of Tennessee ruled late last Friday that a state ban on some drag shows violates the First Amendment. The Tennessee law banned “adult cabaret” shows with “male or female impersonators” that are harmful to minors that happen on state property or in locations where children can see them. Parker is an appointee of former President Donald Trump. Parker blocked the law only in Shelby County, Tennessee, where the lawsuit was filed. The case is Friends of Georges Inc. v. Mulroy. (The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Volokh Conspiracy, the June 2 decision)
