{"id":165496,"date":"2026-10-22T09:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/22\/supreme-court-ends-fight-to-put-genociders-name-back-on-law-school\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:54:13","slug":"supreme-court-ends-fight-to-put-genociders-name-back-on-law-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/22\/supreme-court-ends-fight-to-put-genociders-name-back-on-law-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Ends Fight To Put Genocider\u2019s Name Back On Law School"},"content":{"rendered":"

The years-long campaign to put Serranus Hastings\u2019s name back on San Francisco\u2019s oldest law school is finally, mercifully over. On Monday, the Supreme Court denied review<\/a> in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. State of California<\/em> in a one-sentence order with no noted dissents, which means the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco will stay UC Law SF.<\/p>\n

Back in February, when the California Supreme Court passed on the case, we promised to cover it when the court of last resort told the family to kick rocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Well, rocks have been kicked.<\/p>\n

The school didn\u2019t drop Hastings\u2019s name on a whim. California\u2019s first chief justice financed Indian-hunting expeditions<\/a> against the Yuki people in the 1850s, which is to say he paid to have human beings killed, and he got richer for it. That history kicked off a years-long restorative justice process, the board voted to ditch the name<\/a>, the Legislature passed AB 1936, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it, and the school became UC Law SF on January 1, 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when six Hastings descendants and a handful of alumni sued to keep the name of a genocider on their LinkedIn profiles<\/a>. Their theory: an 1878 statute said the school would \u201cforever\u201d be known as Hastings College of the Law, so it was a binding contract, and breaking it meant the state owed back the original $100,000 gift plus interest, a tidy sum the family pegged at $1.7 billion<\/a>. The suit survived an early bid to kill it<\/a>, and that was about the last good news the plaintiffs got. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer tossed it in 2024, ruling the 1878 law was an ordinary statute the legislature was free to repeal. A unanimous panel of the First District Court of Appeal affirmed last October. The California Supreme Court declined review in January, and now SCOTUS has done the same.<\/p>\n

The descendants\u2019 lawyer, Gregory Michael, said the decision was disappointing. \u201cThis litigation sought to \u200bvindicate fundamental constitutional principles and preserve the legacy of Judge Hastings against legislative action we \u200bbelieve exceeded constitutional limits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lost in the litigation is the part of AB 1936<\/a> that does something pretty important: scholarships for members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, pro bono support for tribal courts, and an Indigenous Law Center at the school. <\/p>\n

Chancellor and Dean David Faigman said the school is \u201cpleased to see \u200bthis chapter behind us.\u201d Faigman opened the inquiry into Hastings\u2019s legacy back in 2017, steps down in June 2027, which means he gets to leave with the name question settled.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> UC Law San Francisco Scores Another Name Change Win<\/a>
Hastings Family Money Grab Thwarted By California Judge<\/a>
You\u2019re Named After Who? This Top Law School Will Have To Fight For Its New Name<\/a>
Top Law School Has A Brand New Name<\/a>
Descendants Of Serranus Hastings Sue To Keep Name Of Genocider On Law School<\/a>
Law School Would Really Like To Be Rid Of Genocider\u2019s Name<\/a>
Is Genocide A Good Enough Reason For These Law Schools To Change Their Names?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Supreme Court Ends Fight To Put Genocider\u2019s Name Back On Law School<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The years-long campaign to put Serranus Hastings\u2019s name back on San Francisco\u2019s oldest law school is finally, mercifully over. On Monday, the Supreme Court denied review<\/a> in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. State of California<\/em> in a one-sentence order with no noted dissents, which means the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco will stay UC Law SF.<\/p>\n

Back in February, when the California Supreme Court passed on the case, we promised to cover it when the court of last resort told the family to kick rocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Well, rocks have been kicked.<\/p>\n

The school didn\u2019t drop Hastings\u2019s name on a whim. California\u2019s first chief justice financed Indian-hunting expeditions<\/a> against the Yuki people in the 1850s, which is to say he paid to have human beings killed, and he got richer for it. That history kicked off a years-long restorative justice process, the board voted to ditch the name<\/a>, the Legislature passed AB 1936, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it, and the school became UC Law SF on January 1, 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when six Hastings descendants and a handful of alumni sued to keep the name of a genocider on their LinkedIn profiles<\/a>. Their theory: an 1878 statute said the school would \u201cforever\u201d be known as Hastings College of the Law, so it was a binding contract, and breaking it meant the state owed back the original $100,000 gift plus interest, a tidy sum the family pegged at $1.7 billion<\/a>. The suit survived an early bid to kill it<\/a>, and that was about the last good news the plaintiffs got. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer tossed it in 2024, ruling the 1878 law was an ordinary statute the legislature was free to repeal. A unanimous panel of the First District Court of Appeal affirmed last October. The California Supreme Court declined review in January, and now SCOTUS has done the same.<\/p>\n

The descendants\u2019 lawyer, Gregory Michael, said the decision was disappointing. \u201cThis litigation sought to \u200bvindicate fundamental constitutional principles and preserve the legacy of Judge Hastings against legislative action we \u200bbelieve exceeded constitutional limits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lost in the litigation is the part of AB 1936<\/a> that does something pretty important: scholarships for members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, pro bono support for tribal courts, and an Indigenous Law Center at the school. <\/p>\n

Chancellor and Dean David Faigman said the school is \u201cpleased to see \u200bthis chapter behind us.\u201d Faigman opened the inquiry into Hastings\u2019s legacy back in 2017, steps down in June 2027, which means he gets to leave with the name question settled.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> UC Law San Francisco Scores Another Name Change Win<\/a>
Hastings Family Money Grab Thwarted By California Judge<\/a>
You\u2019re Named After Who? This Top Law School Will Have To Fight For Its New Name<\/a>
Top Law School Has A Brand New Name<\/a>
Descendants Of Serranus Hastings Sue To Keep Name Of Genocider On Law School<\/a>
Law School Would Really Like To Be Rid Of Genocider\u2019s Name<\/a>
Is Genocide A Good Enough Reason For These Law Schools To Change Their Names?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Supreme Court Ends Fight To Put Genocider\u2019s Name Back On Law School<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The years-long campaign to put Serranus Hastings\u2019s name back on San Francisco\u2019s oldest law school is finally, mercifully over. On Monday, the Supreme Court denied review in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. State of California in a one-sentence order with no noted dissents, which means the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}