May 15 (Reuters) – A longstanding diversity and inclusion requirement for U.S. law schools is teetering amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration and Republican states.
The American Bar Association council that oversees law school accreditation voted on Friday to eliminate a ?rule that requires 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 began cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“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 a former dean ?of the University of Kentucky College of Law.
The change would not become final until the ABA’s House of Delegates begins ?to consider it as early as August and then debates revisions. That approval process could push the diversity rule’s elimination to sometime ?in 2027.
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