{"id":142223,"date":"2026-01-19T18:42:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/19\/florida-and-texas-break-from-aba-on-law-school-accreditation-and-what-banning-plato-has-to-do-with-it\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T18:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:42:27","slug":"florida-and-texas-break-from-aba-on-law-school-accreditation-and-what-banning-plato-has-to-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/19\/florida-and-texas-break-from-aba-on-law-school-accreditation-and-what-banning-plato-has-to-do-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida And Texas Break From ABA On Law School Accreditation (And What Banning Plato Has To Do With It)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida has decided that the American Bar Association is just too much. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court graciously<\/em> opened the door to alternative law school accreditors by cutting off the ABA as its sole accepted accreditor for law schools<\/a>. The court framed this as a bold strike for institutional freedom and not, say, an effort to turn public legal education into a Heritage Foundation book club. <\/p>\n

According to the court, \u201cThe Court\u2019s goal is to promote access to high-quality, affordable legal education in law schools that are committed to the free exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, the GOP interpretation of \u201cfree exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination\u201d in law schools just got the new dean of Arkansas fired before she even started, so take this per curiam pronouncement<\/a> from a collection of Republican appointees with appropriate levels of salt.<\/p>\n

This move comes hot on the heels of Texas pulling the same stunt<\/a>, because nothing conveys careful, evidence-based educational policymaking like red states passing around the anti-wokeness<\/em> bong and taking rips.<\/p>\n

In a Tweet, Professor Orin Kerr offered a much more charitable reading of the Florida decision:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201cparticular agendas\u201d that the ABA pushed \u2014 which at this point are all but abandoned<\/a> \u2014 were diversity commitments. Obviously, there are people who think diversity training is an objectionable agenda. We call those people \u201cwhite supremacists.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the ABA recognized a diverse legal workforce as advantageous, both within the workplace and to the reality of a diverse client base, and determined that credible law schools should operate accordingly. It\u2019s why comments like \u201cstick to its proper role\u201d miss the mark. The \u201cproper role\u201d of an accreditor in professional education is to make sure a school\u2019s graduates meet the demands of the profession. If a school is graduating attorneys unable to even consider unconscious biases doing active harm to their clients, that\u2019s a professional education issue<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Were the specific requirements imposed by the ABA the best<\/em> way to promote diversity? That\u2019s arguable. But Texas and Florida aren\u2019t interested in that debate, they object to the idea that diversity should be promoted at all. <\/p>\n

If anyone thinks this break will lead to Texas and Florida law schools becoming more committed to the \u201cfree exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination,\u201d they should promptly remove their heads from their asses before causing serious colon damage.<\/p>\n

We actually know the trajectory of these decisions because they\u2019re already playing out in these states\u2019 undergraduate institutions. Texas A&M just canceled a philosophy course because the school decided Plato was too woke<\/a>. \u201c[T]he Board of Regents has clarified that core curriculum courses, which includes PHIL 111 Contemporary Moral Issues, cannot include issues related to race ideology, gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity,\u201d the professor was told. They banned a 2400-year-old text because they felt PLATO\u2019s views on gender were too dangerously contemporary. <\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s future isn\u2019t much different. The New College of Florida became that state\u2019s guinea pig for reworking higher education along the sort of \u201cfree exchange\u201d principles its supreme court writes about in the ABA decision. In January 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis stuffed the board with conservative politicians and right-wing influencers like Christopher Rufo and set out to remake the curriculum. Three years later, spending has skyrocketed and rankings have plummeted<\/a>. The school has dropped nearly 60 spots in the U.S. News<\/em> rankings \u2014 from 76th to 135th \u2014 while spending roughly $134,000 per student. Retention is down. Graduation rates are down. One faculty member described the enrollment situation as \u201ckind of like a Ponzi scheme: Students keep leaving, so they have to recruit bigger and bigger cohorts.\u201d Another former New College official said of school president Richard Corcoran\u2019s administration, \u201cacademically, Richard\u2019s running a Motel 6 on a Ritz-Carlton budget<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019re looking at as these states break from the ABA and seek an \u201calternative\u201d that we all know will end up being PragerU. Just like the Trump Bible<\/a>, they\u2019re just going to leave the Fourteenth Amendment section out of Con Law. <\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Florida Justice Jorge Labarga filed a dissenting opinion, noting that \u201cthe ABA has developed incomparable expertise in the accreditation process,\u201d recognizing that ABA standards \u201cprovide consumer protections, public accountability and institutional transparency . . . protecting against predatory admissions and poor programs outcomes.\u201d He\u2019s the lone member of the Florida Supreme Court not appointed by Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tragic for the talented in-state students who want to attend a quality public institution, but we need to consider how other states respond to this. At what point do degrees from these ideologically captured institutions stop being professionally valid for licensing purposes? That might sound extreme, but we\u2019re talking about an accreditation regime that\u2019s hostile to Plato. A law school operating under restrictions like that simply isn\u2019t producing graduates that should fill jurisdictions with a lot of trust.<\/p>\n

When California experimented with moving away from the bar exam monopoly, people kicked and screamed about it. And it was a disaster, imposed upon applicants far too quickly. Texas and Florida have embarked into much, much more problematic uncharted waters and the outcry needs to be a lot more robust.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Florida And Texas Break From ABA On Law School Accreditation (And What Banning Plato Has To Do With It)<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida has decided that the American Bar Association is just too much. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court graciously<\/em> opened the door to alternative law school accreditors by cutting off the ABA as its sole accepted accreditor for law schools<\/a>. The court framed this as a bold strike for institutional freedom and not, say, an effort to turn public legal education into a Heritage Foundation book club. <\/p>\n

According to the court, \u201cThe Court\u2019s goal is to promote access to high-quality, affordable legal education in law schools that are committed to the free exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, the GOP interpretation of \u201cfree exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination\u201d in law schools just got the new dean of Arkansas fired before she even started, so take this per curiam pronouncement<\/a> from a collection of Republican appointees with appropriate levels of salt.<\/p>\n

This move comes hot on the heels of Texas pulling the same stunt<\/a>, because nothing conveys careful, evidence-based educational policymaking like red states passing around the anti-wokeness<\/em> bong and taking rips.<\/p>\n

In a Tweet, Professor Orin Kerr offered a much more charitable reading of the Florida decision:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201cparticular agendas\u201d that the ABA pushed \u2014 which at this point are all but abandoned<\/a> \u2014 were diversity commitments. Obviously, there are people who think diversity training is an objectionable agenda. We call those people \u201cwhite supremacists.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the ABA recognized a diverse legal workforce as advantageous, both within the workplace and to the reality of a diverse client base, and determined that credible law schools should operate accordingly. It\u2019s why comments like \u201cstick to its proper role\u201d miss the mark. The \u201cproper role\u201d of an accreditor in professional education is to make sure a school\u2019s graduates meet the demands of the profession. If a school is graduating attorneys unable to even consider unconscious biases doing active harm to their clients, that\u2019s a professional education issue<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Were the specific requirements imposed by the ABA the best<\/em> way to promote diversity? That\u2019s arguable. But Texas and Florida aren\u2019t interested in that debate, they object to the idea that diversity should be promoted at all. <\/p>\n

If anyone thinks this break will lead to Texas and Florida law schools becoming more committed to the \u201cfree exchange of ideas and to the principle of nondiscrimination,\u201d they should promptly remove their heads from their asses before causing serious colon damage.<\/p>\n

We actually know the trajectory of these decisions because they\u2019re already playing out in these states\u2019 undergraduate institutions. Texas A&M just canceled a philosophy course because the school decided Plato was too woke<\/a>. \u201c[T]he Board of Regents has clarified that core curriculum courses, which includes PHIL 111 Contemporary Moral Issues, cannot include issues related to race ideology, gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity,\u201d the professor was told. They banned a 2400-year-old text because they felt PLATO\u2019s views on gender were too dangerously contemporary. <\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s future isn\u2019t much different. The New College of Florida became that state\u2019s guinea pig for reworking higher education along the sort of \u201cfree exchange\u201d principles its supreme court writes about in the ABA decision. In January 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis stuffed the board with conservative politicians and right-wing influencers like Christopher Rufo and set out to remake the curriculum. Three years later, spending has skyrocketed and rankings have plummeted<\/a>. The school has dropped nearly 60 spots in the U.S. News<\/em> rankings \u2014 from 76th to 135th \u2014 while spending roughly $134,000 per student. Retention is down. Graduation rates are down. One faculty member described the enrollment situation as \u201ckind of like a Ponzi scheme: Students keep leaving, so they have to recruit bigger and bigger cohorts.\u201d Another former New College official said of school president Richard Corcoran\u2019s administration, \u201cacademically, Richard\u2019s running a Motel 6 on a Ritz-Carlton budget<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019re looking at as these states break from the ABA and seek an \u201calternative\u201d that we all know will end up being PragerU. Just like the Trump Bible<\/a>, they\u2019re just going to leave the Fourteenth Amendment section out of Con Law. <\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Florida Justice Jorge Labarga filed a dissenting opinion, noting that \u201cthe ABA has developed incomparable expertise in the accreditation process,\u201d recognizing that ABA standards \u201cprovide consumer protections, public accountability and institutional transparency . . . protecting against predatory admissions and poor programs outcomes.\u201d He\u2019s the lone member of the Florida Supreme Court not appointed by Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tragic for the talented in-state students who want to attend a quality public institution, but we need to consider how other states respond to this. At what point do degrees from these ideologically captured institutions stop being professionally valid for licensing purposes? That might sound extreme, but we\u2019re talking about an accreditation regime that\u2019s hostile to Plato. A law school operating under restrictions like that simply isn\u2019t producing graduates that should fill jurisdictions with a lot of trust.<\/p>\n

When California experimented with moving away from the bar exam monopoly, people kicked and screamed about it. And it was a disaster, imposed upon applicants far too quickly. Texas and Florida have embarked into much, much more problematic uncharted waters and the outcry needs to be a lot more robust.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Florida And Texas Break From ABA On Law School Accreditation (And What Banning Plato Has To Do With It)<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida has decided that the American Bar Association is just too much. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court graciously opened the door to alternative law school accreditors by cutting off the ABA as its sole accepted accreditor for law schools. The court framed this as a bold strike for institutional freedom and not, say, an effort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":141980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Headshot-300x200-WfhTuF.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}