Washington bar exam lifts mask mandate after newspaper report

Bar exam takers will no longer be required to wear masks during the 12-hour test in Washington, D.C. after a flurry of negative coverage when a newspaper reported on the mask mandate secretly imposed by the court.

The D.C. Court of Appeals reversed its policy after the Washington Free Beacon’s report on masking requirements led to contempt from media and experts alike.

The Beacon said, however, that an email by the court’s deputy clerk, which it obtained when the court’s public relations chief accidentally forwarded them the email, reveals the court is not happy about its reversal.

“Looks like someone who probably doesn’t want to wear a mask sent it to the media to force our hand,” Marie Robertson, the court’s acting chief deputy clerk wrote in an email. “We are likely to lift the mask requirement, but I’d like to announce that closer to the exam and I prefer that we announce it, and not that it comes from the media.”

The court’s draconian mask mandate came even as President Joe Biden belatedly declared an end to the national COVID-19 emergency a month earlier, amid rising criticism that the crisis atmosphere showed an administration out of touch with the rest of America.  

When the national COVID-19 emergency ended, so did the mask mandate by the federal government. 

In March, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center even stopped collecting data on coronavirus in the United States.  

Legal analysts were appalled by the court’s masking requirements when they were revealed.   

“The technical legal term for this policy is ‘insane,'” Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow and the director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told the Washington Examiner. “Not only is the pandemic over, with (less harmful variants of) COVID endemic among other coronaviruses in our ecosystem, [but] masks have been shown to be an ineffective method of preventing transmission, particularly over long periods of time.  

“To add this concentration-reducing burden to one of the most stressful professional experiences around is cruel. I hope test-takers sue the D.C. Bar.” 

Shapiro wasn’t alone in his criticism.  

“Sitting for the bar exam is stressful enough! It is sadly ironic, since lawyers need to think rationally and weigh risks for themselves,” Jeff Stier, a senior fellow at the Consumer Choice Center, also told the Washington Examiner. 

Other critics point to a recent literature review in the open access scientific journal Cell Press that said masks can create toxicity for the user. 

“A significant rise in carbon dioxide occurring while wearing a mask is scientifically proven in many studies, especially for N95-masks due to their higher deadspace and breathing resistance,” the study said.  

However, an undated memorandum regarding the bar exam from the D.C. Court of Appeals previously stipulated that “Surgical, KN95 or KF94 [are] preferred’ and that “There are no exceptions to these requirements.”