Reuters Daily Docket [subscription]: “The ABA is weighing a sweeping rollback of DEI-related accreditation rules for law schools amid federal pressure and state pushback.

• What’s happening? The ABA is moving to eliminate or scale back three diversity and non-discrimination standards in its law school accreditation rules. A key committee recommended scrapping the long-standing diversity requirement, currently suspended, despite public support for keeping or strengthening it, citing warnings from the U.S. Department of Education to other accreditors. Read the memo here.
• Why it matters – The changes mark a significant retreat from the ABA’s years-long push to promote diversity in legal education and the profession. The committee warned that maintaining the current diversity rule could jeopardize the ABA’s federal recognition as an accreditor, putting the national law school accreditation system at risk. The shift reflects mounting pressure from the Trump administration’s anti-DEI agenda and from state supreme courts, including in Texas, Florida, and Alabama, that have criticized the ABA’s standards as overreaching and have explored alternatives to its role in lawyer licensing.
• What’s next? – The ABA’s legal education council is set to vote on Friday. It is also considering nixing a 2022 rule on teaching bias and cross-cultural competency and narrowing its broader non-discrimination standard…”