The public will get a second chance to weigh in on potential changes to the American Bar Association’s diversity and inclusion standard for law schools, after an initial proposal was widely criticized for weakening the rule following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on Friday voted to send a second version of the proposed rule change out for public comment, which restores references to “race and ethnicity” that had been eliminated in the first draft.
"We wanted to make it clear that we were not seeking to abandon the values of diversity and inclusion," said councilmember Carla Pratt, a University of Oklahoma law professor.
The rule at issue—which is currently called the Diversity and Inclusion standard but would be renamed the Access to Legal Education and the Profession Standard under the proposal—involves how law schools must demonstrate commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions and programming. The ABA is designated as the national accreditor of law schools by the U.S. Department of Education and it maintains a series of standards that all schools must follow.
The council began revising the diversity standard in 2023 after the U.S. Supreme Court barred the consideration of race in college admissions to ensure it complies with that ruling.
The current ABA diversity and inclusion rule requires law schools to provide “full opportunities” for “racial and ethnic minorities” and have a diverse student body “with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”
Many legal educators and organizations opposed the first draft in public comments, saying that it rolled back law schools’ obligations too far and would hobble longstanding efforts to diversify student bodies and faculties.
The latest version aims to strike a balance by complying with the Supreme Court ruling and making clear that the council is “not abandoning the value of diversity and inclusion,” according to a memo explaining the new proposal.
It requires schools to demonstrate through “concrete action” a commitment to including groups that historically have been excluded from the legal profession “due to race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, military status, Native American tribal citizenship, and/or socioeconomic background.”
The council could adopt the change when it next meets in February. The change would then require the approval of the ABA’s House of Delegates during its annual meeting in August.
Read more:
ABA walks back plan to remove 'race and ethnicity' from law school diversity rules
Cutting 'race and ethnicity' from ABA's law school diversity rules goes too far, critics say
