The American Bar Association places pressure on top public law schools to implement “unconstitutional” race and sex-based preferences in admissions and hiring, according to a new report by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
The foundation’s report, published in July, says the ABA does this through its “monopoly” accreditation process.
However, a bar association official denied any unlawful discrimination when contacted by The College Fix.
Pacific Legal, a public interest law firm focused on defending individual liberties, based its findings on accreditation reports from 45 of the top 50 public law schools through open records requests from 2014 to 2023.
The report found that 20 of the responding schools were criticized for failing to meet the ABA’s “diversity standards,” thus risking their accreditation status. These criticisms include failing to hire a sufficient amount of faculty from minority groups, having “limited DEI curriculum integration,” and “not having enough LGBTQ+ support groups.”
According to the report, these standards often require or encourage practices that conflict with the U.S. Constitution and state and federal civil rights laws.
“The ABA has told law schools that they have to implement the ABA’s own problematic diversity standards, even if state or federal law might prohibit them from doing so,” Zack Smith, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Fix recently when asked about the report. Smith previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida.
The findings center on the bar association’s accreditation Standards 205 and 206, which obligate law schools to demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion regarding students, faculty, and staff in terms of race and sex by the virtue of “non-discrimination,” according to the foundation’s report.
Schools that fail to meet these standards risk punishment and a loss of accreditation, according to the report.
The report documents examples of schools being pushed to adopt racial preferences despite state-level prohibitions. In one case, Charleston School of Law was denied accreditation until it agreed to appoint a diversity director to remediate concerns regarding sufficient racial diversity in the school.
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