Dive Brief:
- The American Bar Association is facing federal scrutiny over its accreditation standard requiring law schools to promote diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
- Amid the influx of federal bans on DEI, the ABA suspended the rule, known as Standard 206, which calls for law schools to demonstrate "a commitment to diversity and inclusion." The freeze is in effect until Aug. 31 as the association revises the rule.
- But in a recent letter to ABA leadership, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the rule unconstitutional and pressed the organization to strike it down immediately and entirely. If ABA doesn't eliminate its DEI standard, Bondi said, the organization could face punitive action from the U.S. Department of Justice and loss of its status as an accrediting body, she said. The ABA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Dive Insight:
As the only national accreditation agency for law schools, the ABA wields a significant amount of influence. In the vast majority of states, students cannot take the bar exam — the gateway to practicing law — without having graduated from an ABA-accredited law school.
But the association found itself in the administration's crosshairs over its requirement that its member institutions strive for diversity among their students and employees.
Less than a week into his second term as president, Donald Trump signed executive orders aiming to cut DEI efforts in the federal government, higher education and beyond.
His orders — which have been temporarily blocked in part by a federal judge — run anathema to Standard 206, the diversity-focused aspect of ABA's accreditation process.
According to the rule: "Consistent with sound legal education policy and the Standards, a law school shall demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion by providing full opportunities for the study of law and entry into the profession by members of underrepresented groups, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, and a commitment to having a student body that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity." The second part of the standard applies the same requirement to faculty and staff.
A diverse student body benefits an institution as a whole, ABA said in its standards, as it "promotes cross-cultural understanding, helps break down racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes, and enables students to better understand persons of different backgrounds."
The ABA issued a Feb. 4 resolution urging the Trump administration to amend its DEI directives and make clear it will not use them to infringe on organizations' First Amendment rights.
But instead, the Trump administration doubled down. Two weeks later, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance barring colleges from weighing race in any decision-making. Though the agency appeared to roll back some of the most far-reaching aspects of the guidance, it is now facing at least two lawsuits over that directive.
The ABA council overseeing admissions cited Trump's executive orders and the department's guidance when it announced that it would review Standard 206.
"The Council’s commitment to ensuring access to legal education to all people, including those who have been historically excluded from the legal profession, has not changed," the organization said in a Feb. 22 statement. "However, the Council intends to ensure that the schools can comply with this standard consistent with applicable law."
The ABA suspended the rule's enforcement until the end of August. At that time, the association said it expects to adopt a revised version of the rule — one that would retitle Standard 206 from "Diversity and Inclusion" to "Access to Legal Education and the Profession."
Under the proposal, law schools would still be required to commit to "diversity, inclusion, and access," despite the rule's name change. But the revision explicitly states that compliance with the rule would not compel "a law school to take race or any other identity characteristic into account in making an individual admissions decision." The same proviso is included for making individual employment decisions.
Bondi called the suspension of Standard 206 enforcement "a welcome development" but took issue with the ABA's statement and said the organization must fully rebuke DEI.
"The Standard must be repealed in its entirety," she said on Feb. 28. "Any requirement that law schools demonstrate 'a commitment to diversity' is deeply problematic."
