At a special meeting Jan. 16, the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar will consider recommendations “to give the council more autonomy over its self-governance” and allow changes to be implemented more quickly, according to memos to the council from the governance committee posted Jan. 9.
The first session of the 119th Congress convened on Jan. 3, 2025, with Republicans taking control of both chambers following Donald Trump’s reelection. What ensued was a turbulent session that adjourned Jan. 3, 2026, marked by bitter disputes among members, challenges to Speaker Mike Johnson by members of his own party, and a standoff over Affordable Care Act subsidy extensions that ultimately triggered the 43-day government shutdown—the longest in U.S. history.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical of arguments Tuesday against state bans on transgender athletes playing on women’s sports teams and whether such laws violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
A veteran prosecutor who was recruited to help run a key U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia was abruptly dismissed last week after disagreements with the Trump administration, according to two people with knowledge of the firing.
At least five senior prosecutors in the criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced their resignations this week, believing that the Trump administration has undermined the work and mission of the section, according to four people familiar with the personnel moves.
The ABA Journal is collecting bar exam stories recounting the day our readers took the bar exam—and something else extraordinary happened. We’ll be updating this regularly. What’s your story?
Texas recently became the first state to officially cut ties with the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Meanwhile, Florida and two other states are considering similar moves. These moves have raised more questions than answers about what accreditation might look like and what the implications would be for law schools, law students and licensure.
Law librarians are pushing back on the idea that generative artificial intelligence will eventually replace them. If anything, they have become more relevant as they test and promote new AI-based tools for government, law schools and law firms, says Jenny Silbiger, the president of the American Association of Law Libraries.
