New York State Bar Association Urges American Bar Association To Keep Diversity Standards in Law School Accreditation
6.29.2026
The New York State Bar Association is calling for the American Bar Association Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to keep its diversity standards for law school admissions.
The Council voted last month to repeal its diversity and inclusion standards under pressure from the Trump administration. The president has threatened to remove the ABA as the government’s official law school accreditor.
“Diverse student bodies and educators are essential to the success of our education system and a diverse workforce—at all levels — is essential to the success of America’s businesses and civic institutions like our court system,” stated New York State Bar Association President Taa Grays, quoting the association’s 2023 Task Force on Advancing Diversity report.
Since 1952, the ABA has been the national agency for law school accreditation, with standards requiring that law schools demonstrate a commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions, and student programming. The percentage of minority first-year law students at ABA-accredited law schools rose from 29% to 37% between 2014 and 2024 and held steady in 2025, according to ABA data.
The ABA suspended its diversity standards in February 2025 due to federal actions to roll back diversity initiatives. In April 2025, the Trump administration directed U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reassess the ABA’s status as accreditor, citing its diversity standards as the reason. The proposal to eliminate the diversity standards has been met with pushback, with the vast majority of submitted public comments against the repeal.
The ABA House of Delegates will vote on the proposal next month at its annual conference in Chicago. The ABA’s role as accreditor has also come under pressure from states, with Florida, Texas, and Alabama removing the requirement that students sitting for the bar exam graduate from an ABA-accredited law school.
The New York State Bar Association’s Executive Committee voted to oppose the removal of diversity standards in a meeting on Monday. “We will advocate for the Council to retain the diversity and inclusion standards at the ABA Annual meeting next month,” Grays further stated.
The 2023 Task Force on Advancing Diversity report listed ways to achieve diversity while following the framework of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina.
