Department of Education Moves to Strip ABA’s Law School Accreditation Amid DEI Criticism
The Department of Education has begun the process of removing the American Bar Association’s ability to accredit law schools, though the ABA Accreditation Council emphasizes the move represents only one step in the process.
“After reviewing the ABA’s accreditation standards, department staff found the accreditor out of compliance with the agency’s accreditation regulations and recognition standards,” a Department of Education spokesperson told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday, confirming The Wall Street Journal’s earlier reporting.
“We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing and involves multiple stages of review, including by an independent, bipartisan advisory committee in September,” the spokesperson added.
The Education Department recognizes outside accrediting bodies, such as the ABA, requiring schools to obtain their approval to participate in some federal student aid programs. ABA-accredited law schools provide the standard path to bar admission in most states, giving the association a powerful gatekeeping role in America’s legal infrastructure.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have accused the ABA of using its accrediting authority to pressure law schools to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
When reached for comment, the ABA referred the Daily Signal to the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasizing that the association and the council are separate entities.
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Melissa Hart, the former Colorado Supreme Court justice who chairs the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasized that Friday’s move represents merely the first step in a longer process and expressed confidence that the council will prevail.
“The council is confident it complies with the Higher Education Act and with the department’s requirements for accreditors,” Hart told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday. “We look forward to the opportunity to address any misconceptions and clarify the record at our upcoming hearing before the [National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity] next month.”
The Department of Education staff recommendation “represents one step in the regular recognition process that the council and other accreditors periodically complete. A hearing with NACIQI is the next step in that process, and we’re confident the council will address any concerns the department may have at that hearing.”
While the Education Department has recognized the ABA’s accrediting power since 1952, its report recommends removing it next month when its federal recognition comes up for review, due to alleged conflicts of interest. The department last approved the association’s accreditation authority in 2021.
The department published a nearly 500-page report asserting that the ABA’s accreditation wing isn’t sufficiently independent of its profession. Accreditation entities must maintain independence in order to focus on education quality. The ABA also functions as a trade association for lawyers and judges, in addition to its role as an accreditor for law schools.
“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel,” David Barker, assistant secretary of education, told the Journal. “When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”
In an April 2025 executive order, the president ordered the Department of Education to investigate and hold accountable “accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives.”
The ABA’s accreditation council previously required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” by committing to having a student body and faculty “that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.” The council moved to revise the requirements this May, replacing lists of demographic categories with commitments not to discriminate.
Critics have warned that moves to pull accreditation power will politicize the accreditation process, though Trump has claimed groups such as the ABA had already done so.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said the association had been “ideologically captured by radical leftists” and has “continuously pursued discriminatory DEI practices.”
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