Texas high court considers dropping ABA accreditation as requirement to practice law

By Karen Sloan

April 4 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Texas has asked the public to weigh in on whether it should end its requirement that lawyers admitted in the state must graduate from an American Bar Association-accredited law school — following a similar move last month by Florida.

The Texas high court did not stipulate why it is reviewing the ABA requirement — adopted in 1983 — when it issued an administrative order on Friday seeking public comment. A court spokesperson declined to comment, and the ABA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The move comes as the ABA faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration and other Republicans to end its diversity and inclusion requirement for law schools. All of the Texas Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican governors.

The Supreme Court of Florida, also composed entirely of Republican-appointed justices, in March appointed a workgroup to study the state's ABA requirement for admission and propose possible alternatives. The court cited both the diversity standard and the “ABA’s active political engagement” as reasons for the inquiry.

The ABA's current diversity and inclusion rule requires that law schools provide “full opportunities” for “racial and ethnic minorities” and have a diverse student body “with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.” The ABA last month suspended enforcement of the current diversity rule and delayed approving a proposed revision in order to incorporate forthcoming guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Republicans have said the standard is discriminatory. Bondi threatened to revoke the ABA’s status as the government-designated accreditor of U.S. law schools in her February 28 letter calling for the elimination of its law school diversity and inclusion standard.

Texas has 10 ABA-accredited law schools and the fourth-largest number of annual bar examinees in the country, with about 4,000 aspiring lawyers taking its exam each year.

The order from the Texas Supreme Court asks for public comment on “whether to reduce or end” the state’s reliance on the ABA and what alternatives Texas should consider.

Comments should “take into consideration the goals of promoting high-quality and cost-effective legal education, meeting Texans’ need for legal services, protecting the public, and promoting public accountability in the State of Texas’s governance of the legal profession,” the order reads. Comments are due by July 1.

Read more:

Florida weighs breaking with American Bar Association over DEI rule

US Attorney General presses ABA to drop law school DEI rule or risk losing accreditor status