The American Bar Association has voted to end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at law schools after pressure from the Trump administration.
The rule required law schools to follow DEI policies in recruitment, admissions, and student programs, but it has been suspended since Feb. 2025 after President Donald Trump began a crackdown on DEI.
‘It’s time for the ABA’s monopoly to come to an end.’
On Friday, the ABA voted to eliminate the rule permanently.
David Brennen, an ABA council member and a former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, said he still supports DEI policies but voted to end them.
“I think it’s appropriate as an accrediting body that we eliminate that standard so we don’t inhibit the diversity of ideas out there in various types of legal education environments,” he said.
The change won’t be final until the ABA’s House of Delegates considers it and deliberates over possible revisions. Once that process is completed, the decision could be final as early as 2027.
In April 2025, the president directed U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to determine whether to suspend or terminate the ABA as the government’s accreditor based on what he called “unlawful ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ requirements.”
Texas became the first state to decertify the ABA over its focus on DEI. Florida and Alabama have followed suit, and other Republican-controlled states are considering doing the same.
“The left-wing advocacy group known as the American Bar Association has long enjoyed exclusive authority to accredit law schools,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on social media after Texas announced the decision in Sept. 2025.
RELATED: Texas Supreme Court moves to remove American Bar Association from law school accreditation
“It’s time for the ABA’s monopoly to come to an end,” he added. “I commend Texas for taking the lead and hope other states will soon follow.”
The ABA Standards Committee recommended repealing the rule in order to maintain ABA’s prominence in the national system of accreditation.
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