Seventeen California law school deans have asked the state Supreme Court to create a provisional licensing program for applicants scheduled to take the July 2020 bar exam, a test now threatened with postponement or cancellation due to the novel coronavirus.

In a letter sent Friday via email, the deans of the American Bar Association-accredited schools urged the justices not to reschedule the two-day exam to Sept. 9 and 10, one of the recommendations the state bar’s board of trustees made to the high court last week.