Congress to put American Bar Association in hot seat over DEI rules tied to law school accreditation
Congress is calling a hearing to examine whether the American Bar Association (ABA) has used its dominant role in law school accreditation to push diversity, equity and inclusion policies throughout the legal profession.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Constitutional Abuses, scheduled Wednesday’s hearing to question ABA President Michelle A. Behnke about the organization’s influence over law school accreditation.
"DEI is a cancerous ideology that promotes unlawful discrimination and steals opportunities from Americans who would otherwise earn jobs and law school admissions spots on merit," Gill said in a statement. "The ABA has abused its accreditation power to force harmfully racist and often illegal DEI policies and coursework in law schools across the nation."
Gill added that the ABA's "promotion of DEI has created poorly trained lawyers who prioritize political activism over following the law."
The task force has laid out the goal of exploring "how Congress can help permanently eliminate DEI policies within American institutions, including the legal profession and academy."
The ABA’s accreditation system gives it considerable influence over legal education. Its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the only accreditor of Juris Doctor programs recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and graduation from an ABA-approved law school is the standard path to taking the bar exam in most states.
In the hearing, Behnke is expected to argue that the council operates independently of the broader ABA, a distinction she made clear in a June 1 statement.
Despite the council's decision in May to repeal certain diversity and inclusion standards for law schools, Behnke said the ABA still has an "unwavering" commitment to DEI, comments that Gill and other committee members are likely to scrutinize.
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"The legal profession is strongest when it draws on the experiences, talents and perspectives of people from every background and every community," Behnke said last month. "Diversity does not weaken our profession. It deepens it. It broadens understanding, strengthens public trust and helps ensure the law serves all people fairly and fully."
President Donald Trump has put pressure on law firms and other American companies to end DEI practices.
However, even before Trump returned to the White House last January, the ABA accreditation council was already considering revising Standard 206 of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools. A November 2024 revision called for removing sections including a requirement for law schools to "demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion by having a faculty and staff that are diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity."
In August 2024, the council began revising Standard 206 to remove language expressly permitting the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions.
The revisions also clarified that law schools were not required to consider race or other identity characteristics in individual admissions decisions.
In May 2026, the ABA’s accreditation council voted to repeal Standard 206, which had already been suspended since February 2025.