Diversity standard should be abolished, standards committee says to ABA Legal Ed council
The standards committee of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is recommending that an educational standard mandating diversity and inclusion at law schools be permanently abolished.
In a Friday memo to the council, the committee called for the end of Standard 206 despite receiving a large number of comments from law school deans and other educational figures opposing its repeal.
Citing recent communications from the U.S. Department of Education officials to other higher education accreditors that expect them to abolish—not merely suspend—diversity and inclusion standards, the memo stated that the council’s status as the sole national accreditor of law schools “would be imminently threatened” if the standard isn’t scrapped.
With the council’s accreditor status now under review, the Education Department’s March 16 letters to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education indicated “that any application of racial diversity standards would be viewed by the department as a violation of federal law,” according to the committee’s memo.
These letters “must inform the council’s decision-making,” noting that the council’s reaccreditation hearing is scheduled for September, according to the memo.
“The standards committee’s decision to repeal Standard 206 is consistent with the council’s commitment to ensure that all law schools are able to simultaneously comply with accreditation standards and the requirements of applicable laws,” according to the memo.
Fifty comments were submitted regarding Standard 206’s status, with 48 opposing the repeal and two supporting. The 45-day notice and comment period closed April 13.
As written, Standard 206 requires that law schools “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” and “having a faculty and staff that are diverse with respect to gender, race and ethnicity.”
In January, the council set up a new unit focused on law school oversight to underscore that it operates separately from the ABA, the target of criticism from the Trump administration for a host of issues including law school accreditation.
And there has been heated debate over exactly what the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to strike down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina means for diversity in law school admissions and hiring.
In February 2025, the council voted to suspend Standard 206, and this past February, the council voted to continue the suspension through August 2027.
Still, the ABA council’s exclusive accreditor status is changing. Since the beginning of this year, the state supreme courts of Alabama, Texas and Florida made moves to break ties with the council.
Most jurisdictions require applicants to the bar to be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school.
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
