Politics
Supreme Court ends legal bid to restore Hastings name to San Francisco law school
The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge by descendants of Serranus C. Hastings, leaving California’s 2023 renaming of the San Francisco law school in place. The dispute centered on whether an 1878 state law required the school to bear Hastings’ name forever.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a lawsuit seeking to restore the Hastings name to San Francisco’s public law school, leaving in place the school’s current name, UC College of the Law, San Francisco.
Six descendants of Serranus C. Hastings and a group of alumni argued that California was bound by an 1878 law declaring the institution would “forever be known” as Hastings College of the Law. The law also authorized Hastings, a former California chief justice and attorney general, to contribute $100,000 toward its establishment.
The plaintiffs sought repayment of that contribution with interest, claiming the total was $1.7 billion. California courts rejected their argument that the 1878 statute created a binding contract. The state Supreme Court let those rulings stand, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-sentence order Monday denied review without noting any dissents.
The Legislature renamed the school in 2022 through AB 1936, which took effect in 2023. The change followed revelations that Hastings had sent a militia into Mendocino County in the 1860s, where Native Americans were killed. The school’s legal filing said Hastings “funded and fomented the genocide of Native Californians.”
The descendants’ lawyer, Gregory Michael, disputed that account in a filing to the high court, saying Hastings sought militia protection for livestock and that troops committed atrocities independently. He also argued that the state should honor the original naming language regardless of Hastings’ past.
California’s courts found the 1878 law authorized the school’s founding but did not prevent later legislatures from changing its name. In a 2024 ruling, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer described the statute as an ordinary law, not a contract binding the state permanently.
Michael called the Supreme Court’s decision disappointing, saying the lawsuit aimed to protect constitutional principles and Hastings’ legacy. Law school spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said officials welcomed the case’s conclusion and remained focused on educating students.
Founded in 1878, the San Francisco law school has among its alumni former Vice President Kamala Harris and former San Francisco Mayor and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. The case was Hastings College Conservation Committee v. State of California.