ABA Legal Ed council continues suspension of diversity standard
With pressure from the Trump administration mounting, the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions voted to continue the suspension of the contentious accreditation Standard 206, originally titled “Diversity and Inclusion,” at its quarterly meeting in Chicago on Friday.
The move comes in the wake of a several executive orders, including one on April 23 taking aim at higher education accreditors and specifically referencing the council, as well as the ABA’s pending litigation against the U.S. Department of Justice.
The section’s council is recognized by the Department of Education as the sole accrediting body for U.S. law schools and is an independent arm of the ABA for that function. Most jurisdictions require applicants to the bar to be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school. Both Texas and Florida are reconsidering those requirements.
In February, the council suspended enforcement of the hot-button standard until Aug. 31 of this year.
That followed an earlier executive order mandating the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and demands by the U.S. Department of Education that academic institutions eliminate DEI polices or risk federal funding cuts.
The original pause was meant to allow work on the latest round of revisions to the standard while developing a new draft that could be presented to the ABA House of Delegates at the Annual Meeting in August. The continuation of the pause means the ABA House will not consider the issue this year.
The pause had been recommended by the Standards Committee in a May 2 memo addressed to the council.
“There continue to be emergent developments in the higher education landscape, including litigation pending related to several recently issued Executive Orders and Dear Colleague letters,” according to a statement from the council published Friday on the ABA website. “In light of these developments, the Council determined that extraordinary circumstances exist in which compliance with Standard 206 would constitute extreme hardship for multiple law schools, and that the Standard should not be presently enforced.”
Like the original suspension, Friday’s decision means the council will not take actions related to Standard 206, including guidance and evaluations regarding compliance, and that no member institution will be held accountable for compliance. The Standards Committee will monitor developments and report to the council regarding Standard 206 no later than May 2026, according to the statement.
The April executive orders direct the secretary of education to deny, suspend or terminate an accreditor’s recognition if they take into account a school’s diversity. The secretary must “realign” accreditation by requiring universities to use student outcome data without referring to demographic data. Additionally, the order demands universities to prioritize intellectual diversity among faculty.
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