After the University of California removed the name of its namesake benefactor from its San Francisco-based law school, the family of that namesake Serranus Hastings took the university to court.The lawsuit dates back to October 2022, after the University of California officially changed the name of UC Hastings School of Law to UC Law San Francisco. The name change, which was done through state legislation, was undertaken as part of a national reckoning with the name of instutions and public spaces after figures with racist pasts. In the case of Serranus Hastings, it was his leadership of a 19th Century genocide of Indigenous Californians.A San Francisco court previously tried to toss this lawsuit from the descendants of  Hastings back in February 2024. It was appealed to the First District Court of Appeal, which ruled last year that the university and the state had not violated the California constitution by reversing the 1878 legislation that gave the school its name, with the duration of "forever."As Law.com reports, a further appeal to the California Supreme Court has also failed."The court without comment let stand a First District Court of Appeal ruling last year that rejected claims by alumni and descendants of namesake Serranus Hastings that the Legislature and the school’s board of directors had no authority to remove Hastings’ name. The unanimous appellate panel also found that the state was not bound by an 1878 law requiring the school to provide a seat on the board to the Hastings family in perpetuity"The blog Above the Law suggests that the family will likely take their appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, who will likely tell them "to kick rocks."But given that the family could be looking at breach-of-contract damages from the state if they were to ultimately win, they appear to want to continue trying.Previously: UC Hastings Reckons With Founder’s Past, Which Is Chock Full of Genocide and Slavery ...read more read less