ABA Moves to Scrap DEI Rule for US Law Schools Amid Trump-Era Pressure

A longstanding diversity and inclusion requirement for US law schools is facing elimination amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration and Republican-led states.

The council of the American Bar Association that oversees law school accreditation voted on Friday to remove a rule requiring law schools to demonstrate their commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions and student programming.

The rule has been suspended since February 2025, after Republican President Donald Trump returned to the White House and intensified a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“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 so we don’t inhibit the diversity of ideas out there in various types of legal education environments,” said David Brennen, a council member and former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law.

The change will not become final until the ABA’s House of Delegates begins considering it, potentially as early as August, before debating revisions. The approval process could delay the rule’s formal elimination until 2027.

The ABA’s accreditation standards have required diversity and inclusion measures for decades, serving as a key mechanism for advocates seeking to increase the representation of women and minorities in the US legal profession, which remains disproportionately white and male compared with the broader population.

However, the ABA’s emphasis on DEI has placed the organisation squarely in the crosshairs of the second Trump administration.

In April 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing US Education Secretary Linda McMahon to assess whether the ABA should be suspended or stripped of its status as the government’s official law school accreditor. The order cited the organisation’s “unlawful ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ requirements” as part of a broader push to reform higher education accreditation.

Texas, Florida and Alabama have also moved in recent months to sideline the ABA in their lawyer licensing processes, while several other Republican-controlled states are considering similar steps.

The ABA received a wave of public comments — largely from legal educators — urging it to retain or strengthen the diversity and inclusion rule. However, a key committee recommended eliminating the standard to help preserve the organisation’s status as the federally recognised accreditor for law schools.

“The national system of accreditation — and the Council’s role as an accreditor — would be imminently threatened if the diversity and inclusion rule is not repealed,” an ABA Standards Committee memo stated in support of the proposal.

The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar also voted on Friday to seek public comments on eliminating a separate rule adopted in 2022 that requires law schools to educate students about bias, racism and cross-cultural competency. It is also considering a proposal to significantly scale back its non-discrimination rule for students and faculty.

A decision on those proposed changes could come as early as August.

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