Congress Targets ABA’s DEI Rules for Law School Accreditation

Congress is preparing to scrutinize the American Bar Association’s powerful role in accrediting law schools, with lawmakers set to examine whether the organization has used that authority to advance diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the legal field.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who chairs the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Constitutional Abuses, has scheduled a Wednesday hearing focused on the ABA’s influence over legal education. ABA President Michelle A. Behnke is expected to face questions about the association’s accreditation practices.

“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 also argued that the ABA’s support for DEI has produced attorneys who, in his view, are more focused on political advocacy than on faithfully applying the law.

According to the task force, the hearing is intended to explore “how Congress can help permanently eliminate DEI policies within American institutions, including the legal profession and academy.”

The ABA holds significant sway over the nation’s law schools through its accreditation system. Its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the only accrediting body for Juris Doctor programs recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. In most states, graduating from an ABA-approved law school remains the typical route to eligibility for the bar exam.

At the hearing, Behnke is expected to emphasize that the accrediting council functions independently from the broader ABA, a separation she previously underscored 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.

“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.