Lying on an BAR application? Most BAR take a dim view of false information.
First, I didn't defend the practice. I merely inquired as to what purpose the lie would even serve.
It does raise a point here though, which is going to be the question for the bar association. As always in these things regarding "lying," there are two issues - deliberateness and materiality. You lie on a driver's licence application when you split the difference between your bathroom scale weight and you ideal weight. Is it material to any state purpose? I don't know. Is my gender what I want it to be or what is determined by my equipage. Apparently I don't lie when I answer the one way rather than the other.
And there lies the rub. What is the bar association's legitimate purpose [is there such a thing] in collecting race information and does my representation thwart that purpose. Did they have some discriminatory intent in mind, and if I believe that they have such an intent is my lying about it prejudicing a legitimate other, nondiscriminatory purpose. If there is some favor to be had by stating that I am a Native American, then is not that, per se, discriminatory and therefore illegal.