The MPRE (NCBE Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination) is a standardized test that state governments require for licensing to practice law. The state governments' MPRE requirement is Unconstitutional. The MPRE administrators schedule many test dates on Saturday mornings, including 2 of the 3 administrations of the test in 2006. This conflicts with the sabbath for religions such as Judaism and Seventh Day Adventism; the sabbath for these religions includes Saturday morning. Rather than allowing potential test-takers to sign a statement, attesting in writing that taking the exam on a Saturday morning would violate his or her religious beliefs, the test administrators instead require "a letter from the applicant's cleric confirming the applicant's affiliation with a recognized religious entity that observes its Sabbath throughout the year on Saturday." (See excerpt from website, at the bottom of this blog entry.) Thus, the test administrators make the religious judgment that a Jew or a Seventh Day Adventist is not entitled to be a Sabbath observer, without formal affiliation with a synagogue or church.

The MPRE is a prerequisite to being licensed to practice law, in every state. The state governments' MPRE requirement is thus a clear abridgment of freedom of religion, because it discriminates against the private practice of religion, apart from organized institutions. In effect, the state governments -- by requiring the MPRE -- are telling Jews and Seventh Day Adventists that private religious observance, outside of an institutional congregation, is not worthy of respect or recognition. This governmental determination blatantly violates the First Amendment, which provides, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (Emphasis added.) The Fourteenth Amendment requires state governments to honor First Amendment rights. See, e.g., Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 876-77, 110 S.Ct. 1595, 1599 (1990) ("The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which has been made applicable to the States by incorporation into the Fourteenth Amendment . . . .") (citation omitted).

The state governments violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, by requiring the MPRE for licensing of lawyers, when the MPRE administrators' policies respect organized, institutional establishments of religion and disfavor the free exercise of religion, apart from religious institutions. The MPRE's espoused "purpose . . . is to measure the examinee's knowledge and understanding of established standards related to a lawyer's professional conduct" (http://www.ncbex.org/tests/mpre/mpretxt.htm); but the state governments' MPRE requirement, for the licensing of lawyers, actually violates the United States Constitution.



EXCERPT FROM OFFICIAL MPRE WEBSITE:

"*The March and November test dates are on Saturday morning. An applicant whose religious beliefs preclude him or her from taking the examination on a Saturday may apply to take the MPRE on the following day, Sunday, in the afternoon. Requests to take the exam on Sunday must be in writing and must include a letter from the applicant's cleric confirming the applicant's affiliation with a recognized religious entity that observes its Sabbath throughout the year on Saturday. The request should also include the city and state in which the applicant would like to take the exam. Requests for the Sunday exam must be sent with the completed Application Form, using the preaddressed envelope in the application packet; on-line registration is not available for the Sunday MPRE. The applicant will be notified whether or not the request is granted."

http://www.ncbex.org/tests/mpre/mpretxt.htm#Postmark (quotation current, as of May 24, 2006)