by John Solomon
Congress is about to take aim at one of the legal profession’s most powerful bodies as it readies a hearing this week on whether the American Bar Association has weaponized its sway over law school accreditations to force diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in admissions and coursework, Just the News has learned.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Constitutional Abuses, has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on “The Future of DEI in Law School Accreditation and the Legal Profession.”
The hearing comes after the task force last week explored the role DEI played in workplaces and universities’ hiring and employment. Gill has summoned ABA President Michelle Behnke for questioning at Wednesday’s hearing.
The task force will “analyze how the American Bar Association (ABA) has weaponized its accreditation authority to promote DEI policies that are contrary to federal civil rights law and the negative consequences in the legal profession that result from these harmful policies,” the committee told Just the News. “Members will also explore how Congress can help permanently eliminate DEI policies within American institutions, including the legal profession and academy.”
After President Donald Trump returned to office last year and declared war on discriminatory practices in academia and elsewhere, the ABA suspended its rule that required law schools to strive to ensure DEI in recruitment, admissions, and student programming.
The ABA council that oversees accreditation went a step further this past May, voting to end the rule. Referring to the past few years, Gill said he believes the ABA’s full-throated promotion of DEI may have created illegal discrimination in law school admissions and practices.
Gail Heriot and Peter N. Kirsanow, two members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, submitted in February of last year letters requesting legislation prohibiting the accreditors from using their power to push educational institutions to violate the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College (2023).
In that case, Chief Justice John Roberts found that “Harvard’s and UNC’s [DEI] admissions programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Roberts added that “it sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes. Those policies fly in the face of our colorblind Constitution and our Nation’s equality ideal.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Kentanji Brown Jackson dissented from the opinion.
Gil said he is concerned the ABA’s influence is pressured law schools into illegal discrimination.
“DEI is a cancerous ideology that promotes unlawful discrimination and steals opportunities from Americans who would otherwise earn jobs and law school admissions spots on merit,” he said. “The ABA has abused its accreditation power to force harmfully racist and often illegal DEI policies and coursework in law schools across the nation.”
The Texas congressman added that the DEI emphasis has an impact beyond the law by impacting the quality of practicing attorneys.
“The ABA’s promotion of DEI has created poorly trained lawyers who prioritize political activism over following the lawless,” he said. “Congress must do its part to identify harmful DEI policies within the ABA and legal profession to help root them out and ensure equal opportunity and access to justice for all Americans.”
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John Solomon is a reporter for Just the News.
