Anna Lee Brown v. Board of Bar Examiners of the State of Nevada and Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada

The Board of Bar Examiners of the State of Nevada and the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada appeal from the issuance of a preliminary injunction compelling them to administer the 1979 bar examination to appellee Anna Lee Brown. In February 1979, Brown applied for admission to the State Bar of Nevada, but her application was rejected because, as a graduate of a correspondence law school not accredited by the American Bar Association, she failed to comply with Nevada Supreme Court Rule 51(3). In May, Brown submitted a petition and supporting documents to the Nevada Supreme Court requesting a waiver of its Rule 51(3); her petition was denied without elaboration on June 7, 1979.

Brown thereupon filed suit against the two appellants herein and the Nevada Supreme Court in United States District Court, alleging that they had applied Rule 51(3) arbitrarily, capriciously and unequally. By way of relief the complainant prayed that she be allowed to sit for the 1979 Nevada bar examination; that her application be processed in like manner as all other applications; and that she be awarded monetary damages and attorney fees. Jurisdiction was predicated upon 28 U.S.C. § 1343 , and…