Professor Rick Sander's suit against the State Bar of California will be heard at UC-Berkeley School of Law this week. (h/t: At the Lectern) The suit is part of Sander's efforts to obtain data that may or may not prove his "mismatch theory" about affirmative action in law schools. (Justice Goodwin Liu was a professor at Boalt.) I believe the data should be released because, as I understand it, the identifying information at the level of individua applicants is largely if not entirely scrubbed and the issue is of such public importance. Here's the description of the issues on appeal:
The petition for review is granted. The issues to be briefed and argued are limited to the following: (1) What ground, if any, exists for finding that the information sought by plaintiffs is information that is subject to public disclosure? (2) What is the effect, if any, of the representation of confidentiality made by the State Bar to the individuals from whom the information was collected? (3) Does the form in which the requested information is regularly maintained affect whether the State Bar must provide the requested information? Votes: Cantil-Sakauye, C.J., Kennard, Baxter, Werdegar, Chin and Corrigan, JJ.