For them, any mention of race would go too far.
The post Republicans Say ABA’s Diversity Revision Doesn’t Go Far Enough appeared first on Above the Law.
Pictured: A potential lawsuit
The ABA has been struggling with diversity on several fronts. On one hand, they’re struggling to articulate the importance of diversity in a post SFFA v. Harvard world, and trying not to set requirements that will put law schools in legal trouble on the other. Since the decision, they’ve been drafting alternative calls to action that range from schools showing that they’re actively not discriminating against applicants to no call at all. Whatever wording they use is suspect to a lot of prodding. Reuters has coverage:
Attorneys general from 21 Republican-controlled states have warned the American Bar Association that its law school diversity rule is unlawful.
The coalition of state lawyers on Monday sent a letter to the arm of the ABA that accredits law schools opposing both its current diversity standard and a proposed revision of that rule under consideration.
The anti-racial-diversity brigade takes issue with the notion that schools would be required to demonstrate a commitment to including groups that have been systemically excluded from the profession with “concrete action.” Now that scrubbing any attempt at equity toward the disenfranchised is on the table, we get to see what moving “with all deliberate speed” actually looks like.
Given the Court’s 14th Amendment jurisprudence, the law looks to be on the AGs’ side. They argue that removing any reference to race would actually benefit the schools by making it less likely that they’d be sued over their admissions practices. Nice claim, but is that actually true? Non-racial commitments to “diversity” will still piss them off. For example, one of the lesser discussed avenues of being a diverse candidate is having served in the military. Facially, admitting a student because of their military service doesn’t seem to run against the 14th Amendment. But once you factor in that Black Americans are over-represented in the military or that the Army is seeing a sharp decline in White recruits, will the changing demographics of the people serving the country open up law schools to accusations of privileging race by proxy?
Republican State AGs Oppose American Bar Association’s Revised Diversity Rule [ABA Journal]
Earlier: ABA Committee Decides To Diversify Diversity. It Should Come With A Clear Reason For Why That’s Important.
13 State AGs Band Together To Focus On What Really Matters — Preventing Affirmative Action
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
