ABA Legal Ed council suspended diversity standard; AG Bondi wants it scrapped
Pam Bondi, who was President Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general, arrives before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her nomination hearing Jan. 15. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
Updated: A move last month by the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to suspend the accreditation standard originally titled “Diversity and Inclusion” doesn’t go far enough, according to a Feb. 28 letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who wants the council to abolish it “immediately” or risk the right to accredit law schools.
The council’s February move to suspend enforcement of Standard 206 until Aug. 31 came in the wake of an executive order from the Trump administration 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.
While Bondi applauded the suspension, “there is just one appropriate course: The standard must be repealed in its entirety,” she wrote. “And there is no reason to wait; the council should repeal the standard immediately.”
The pause allowed the standards committee to work on the latest round of revisions to the contentious rule that has been under fire since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision eliminating race-based admissions.
“The council has been working on revisions to Standard 206 to ensure it adheres to the current law,” wrote Jennifer L. Rosato Perea, managing director for accreditation and legal education at the ABA, to the ABA Journal.
On March 10, David A. Brennan, chair of the council, sent a letter to Bondi. “The council has not and will not require a law school to violate the law in order to comply with its accreditation standards,” he wrote. “Recognition as a DOE accreditor is a privilege and a great responsibility, which we take seriously to help ensure that graduates from accredited law schools are prepared to be effective, ethical, and responsible members of the legal profession.”
He added that no action is planned before the May 2025 meeting. A new draft could be presented to the ABA House of Delegates at the ABA Annual Meeting in August.
Exactly what the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision means for diversity in law school admissions and hiring has prompted a lengthy and deep look at Standard 206, which in recent proposals was renamed “Access to Legal Education and the Profession.”
Bondi’s letter follows a Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter from Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary at the Education Department, which ordered the elimination of “racial preferences” in admissions, hiring and other areas by the end of February.
“The council’s status as the sole accrediting body of American law schools is a privilege, and mandatory diversity objectives are an abuse of that privilege, which is subject to revocation,” Bondi said in the letter. “The Department of Justice stands ready to take every action necessary to prevent further abuse.”
Updated on March 12 to add comment from Chair David A. Brennan.
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