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While the National Conference develops the “Although conditions appear to be improving,
exam, individual jurisdictions have the ultimate say [the National Conference] recognizes that any juris-
over what test they give and the format it follows. diction’s public health authority may establish that
That means an individual state could opt to design candidates cannot test in person,” Hill said. “Should
and administers its own bar exam if it wanted to that occur, we are committed to working with that
deliver the test online. Several states, including Ne- jurisdiction on a solution that will enable its candi-
vada, Michigan, Florida and Louisiana, opted for dates to take the bar exam.” ■
that route in the summer of 2020.
But the widespread availability of the COVID-19 Karen Sloan is the Legal Education Editor and Se-
vaccine will likely change the calculus for bar exam nior Writer at ALM. Contact her at ksloan@alm.
authorities who have thus far been reluctant to re- com. On Twitter: @KarenSloanNLJ Sign up for
turn to in-person testing. Hill said the National Ahead of the Curve—her weekly email update on
Conference’s decision to return to in-person testing trends and innovation in legal education—here:
is subject to changes in public health conditions. https://www.law.com/briefings/ahead-of-the-curve/

2nd Circuit Removes US Judge

Who Pressed for Lower Sentence

By Tom McParland

he U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Cir-
cuit has ordered a Syracuse, New York, federal
Tjudge removed from the case of a woman who
pleaded guilty to sexually abusing her own daughter,
finding that the judge improperly forced prosecu-
tors to move for a lighter sentence.
The ruling, from a three-judge panel of the Man-
hattan-based appeals court, found Wednesday that
U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd of the Northern
District of New York had no legal basis for com-
pelling prosecutors to file a motion for a reduced
sentence based on the defendant’s cooperation. James M. Hanley Courthouse, U.S. District Court for
Discretion for such decisions, the panel held, lies the Northern District of New York in Syracuse.
solely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the judge’s rare cases in which ‘both for the judge’s sake and
repeated insistence on a lighter sentence had war- the appearance of justice, an assignment to a differ-
ranted his removal. ent judge is salutary and in the public interest,’” the
“This court has held that ‘when circumstances panel said.
might reasonably cause an objective observer to The ruling found that Hurd, who has served as a
question [the judge’s] impartiality,’ the court has the federal judge since 1999, had erred in finding that
power to remand the case to a different judge,” the prosecutors had acted with an “unconstitutional
26-page per curiam opinion read. motive” and in bad faith when they refused to file
“Without implying any personal criticism of the a motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) for a sentence
district court, we conclude that this is one of those ■ Continued on PAGE 18

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