Newsmax: The Trump administration is taking the first step toward stripping the American Bar Association of its longtime authority to accredit law schools, escalating its campaign against liberal ideological influence in higher education.
The Education Department on Friday recommended that the ABA no longer be recognized as an accreditor, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The recommendation is backed by a nearly 500-page department report compiled over more than a year.
The ABA reviews nearly 200 law schools nationwide, giving it significant influence over legal education.
Accreditation affects schools’ access to federal student loan programs, while most states require graduates to attend an ABA-approved law school to qualify for the bar exam.
David Barker, assistant secretary of education, told the Journal that the administration believes the accreditation system has allowed organizations to impose ideological priorities on schools.
“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel,” Barker said. “When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”
The Education Department report also contends that the ABA’s accreditation arm isn’t sufficiently independent of the broader organization or the legal profession, according to the Journal.
The move follows a lengthy fight over the ABA’s diversity policies.
Standard 206 required law schools to demonstrate “concrete action” toward diversity and inclusion among students, faculty, and staff.
The ABA suspended enforcement of the requirement in February 2025 and subsequently extended that suspension.
Bloomberg Law reported earlier this month that the ABA’s House of Delegates cleared the way for its independent accreditation council to eliminate Standard 206 after the council had already voted to repeal it.
The Trump administration and other conservatives have argued the standard encouraged race- and sex-based preferences.
Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi warned the ABA in February 2025 that its accreditation authority could be revoked. The ABA maintained that the suspended rule was not being enforced and said its accreditation council operates independently.
The administration’s move Friday does not immediately end the ABA’s authority.
The Education Department’s recommendation will go to a panel that reviews accrediting organizations before a final recommendation is made to Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. The process could take months.
Melissa Hart, chair of the ABA’s Accreditation Council, told the Journal that the council is confident it complies with federal requirements and remains focused on producing “competent, ethical attorneys.”
If the ABA ultimately loses federal recognition, university-affiliated law schools could rely on their universities’ accreditors, while independent law schools would have to find alternatives.