The American Bar Association is moving to eliminate one of the most controversial diversity requirements tied to law school accreditation, marking a major victory for critics of DEI mandates and another sign of the broader political rollback against identity-based policies in higher education.
On Friday, the ABA Council — the body responsible for overseeing law school accreditation standards — voted to remove the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion requirement that pressured law schools to demonstrate commitments to racial and demographic diversity in admissions and institutional practices.
The rule had already been suspended earlier this year after mounting political and legal pressure following President Donald Trump’s return to office.
The decision is not fully final yet. The ABA’s House of Delegates is still expected to review and debate revisions before the change could officially take effect in 2027. But the vote itself represents a dramatic shift for one of the country’s most influential legal institutions, which for decades strongly promoted race-conscious diversity policies throughout legal education.
Even some supporters of the original rule acknowledged the growing legal and political reality surrounding DEI mandates.
“Even though I personally agree with [the diversity and inclusion standard] and what it tries to achieve, I think it’s appropriate as an accrediting body that we eliminate that standard,” ABA council member David Brennan said, according to Reuters.
Brennan argued that accreditation systems should avoid imposing ideological requirements that could limit diversity of thought within legal education itself.
The move comes after the Trump administration aggressively targeted DEI programs across colleges, universities, and professional organizations. In April, President Trump issued an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to review whether the ABA should continue serving as the official accrediting authority for American law schools.
The administration specifically criticized the ABA’s diversity requirements as potentially unlawful and politically coercive.
That pressure appears to be having significant effects.
Several Republican-led states — including Texas, Florida, and Alabama — have already begun reducing or eliminating the ABA’s role in parts of their lawyer licensing systems. Other states are reportedly considering similar measures as conservative lawmakers increasingly challenge what they see as ideological activism inside legal education and professional credentialing organizations.
The ABA is also reconsidering another controversial standard adopted in 2022 that requires law schools to provide instruction on subjects such as racism, bias, and cultural competency. The organization’s legal education council has now opened public comment on potentially removing that requirement as well.
For supporters of the rollback, the changes represent a long-overdue correction after years of politicized admissions policies and ideological mandates that they argue prioritized identity categories over merit, academic rigor, and viewpoint diversity.
Critics of DEI standards have long argued that accreditation systems effectively pressured schools into race-conscious admissions practices that may conflict with equal protection principles and recent Supreme Court rulings restricting affirmative action.
Supporters of the original standards, however, argue the legal profession still suffers from serious representation gaps and that diversity initiatives remain necessary to ensure the justice system reflects the broader population it serves.
