The American Bar Association has scrapped plans that would have required United States law schools to submit annual reports detailing their efforts to hire faculty and enroll more students from racial minorities or else lose accreditation.
The revision to the ABA’s standards on Diversity and Inclusion was withdrawn Monday by the organization’s house of delegates, which was slated to vote on the proposal this week at their annual meeting, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
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Under the provisions of the withdrawn resolution, a law school would have been required to submit an annual report that showed “the extent to which it has created an educational environment that is inclusive and equitable.”
The report would have assessed the law school’s work in “providing full opportunities for the study of law” by “underrepresented groups” and maintaining a “student body that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”
The proposal, which was first presented in May 2021, received widespread criticism, with many expressing concerns that the standards would force law schools to adopt racial quotas in hiring and admissions. In response to critics, the ABA repeatedly revised the proposal over the last year before ultimately withdrawing it this week.
Last week, the ABA filed an amicus brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could severely limit the ability of colleges and universities to use a student’s race as a factor in admissions. The case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, was brought by a group of Asian students who claim Harvard University illegally discriminated against them by limiting the number of admitted applicants from their demographic.
In its brief, the ABA implored the court to continue to allow colleges to consider race in admissions, claiming that prohibiting it would “inflict great harm on the legal profession and the nation.”
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“Adequate representation of qualified racially diverse lawyers in the legal profession is necessary to maintain the legitimacy of and trust in our legal and democratic institutions,” the ABA argued.
The court is slated to hear oral arguments in the Harvard case and the companion case Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC on Oct. 31.
