{"id":144662,"date":"2026-02-23T16:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/23\/abas-defunct-diversity-in-law-school-standard-moves-toward-getting-repealed\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:57:13","slug":"abas-defunct-diversity-in-law-school-standard-moves-toward-getting-repealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/23\/abas-defunct-diversity-in-law-school-standard-moves-toward-getting-repealed\/","title":{"rendered":"ABA\u2019s Defunct Diversity In Law School Standard Moves Toward Getting Repealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ABA has been trying to slow Standard 206\u2019s bleeding since the Court handed down SFFA v. Harvard<\/em>. In short, the standard held that law schools had to take concrete actions showing a commitment to diversity by providing full opportunities to study the law and enter the profession to underrepresented groups. If they didn\u2019t, the school\u2019s accreditation could be in jeopardy. The ABA suspended the standard right at the end of Black History Month<\/a> last year and spent the interim time promising that they weren\u2019t retreating from diversity<\/a> despite all the evidence to the contrary. Though their good gesture move of extending the moratorium<\/a> didn\u2019t really do anything, the barely breathing Standard still got played for culture war fodder. The FTC made the ridiculous argument that demanding diversity was making law school expensive<\/a>, meanwhile Texas, Florida, and Tennessee used 206 as an excuse to break off from ABA accreditation entirely. A year later, we close Black History Month with the ABA proposing a repeal of Section 206. Law.com<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

Following an emotional discussion about the future of the American Bar Association\u2019s accreditation standard that governs diversity and inclusion requirements in law school admissions, the ABA\u2019s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has decided to advance a proposal to repeal the standard.<\/p>\n

The council voted Friday to send a proposed repeal of the standard out for notice and comment and extend the current suspension of Standard 206 until Aug. 31, 2027.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Emotions be damned: if you\u2019re going to get rid of it, just get rid of it. If you want to keep it on the books to spite the administration, fine, but do it and stand firm for something<\/a>. Stand on your principles, suffer the consequences, and hope that fate smiles on you as it did Costco<\/a>. But this slow dance of \u201cit breaks my heart to do this\u201d and \u201cschools need clear rules to operate\u201d muddies values and benefits no one. And let\u2019s be honest. Pushing the decision off until next year is not that much better.<\/p>\n

ABA Weighing Repeal of Law School Diversity Standard<\/a> [Law.com]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: ABA Committee Decides To Diversify Diversity. It Should Come With A Clear Reason For Why That\u2019s Important.<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA President Says They Aren\u2019t \u2018Retreating\u2019 From Diversity Promises. Does He Know What The ABA Has Been Up To?<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA Diversity And Inclusion Standard Looks Like It\u2019s On Its Last Legs<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post ABA\u2019s Defunct Diversity In Law School Standard Moves Toward Getting Repealed<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ABA has been trying to slow Standard 206\u2019s bleeding since the Court handed down SFFA v. Harvard<\/em>. In short, the standard held that law schools had to take concrete actions showing a commitment to diversity by providing full opportunities to study the law and enter the profession to underrepresented groups. If they didn\u2019t, the school\u2019s accreditation could be in jeopardy. The ABA suspended the standard right at the end of Black History Month<\/a> last year and spent the interim time promising that they weren\u2019t retreating from diversity<\/a> despite all the evidence to the contrary. Though their good gesture move of extending the moratorium<\/a> didn\u2019t really do anything, the barely breathing Standard still got played for culture war fodder. The FTC made the ridiculous argument that demanding diversity was making law school expensive<\/a>, meanwhile Texas, Florida, and Tennessee used 206 as an excuse to break off from ABA accreditation entirely. A year later, we close Black History Month with the ABA proposing a repeal of Section 206. Law.com<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

Following an emotional discussion about the future of the American Bar Association\u2019s accreditation standard that governs diversity and inclusion requirements in law school admissions, the ABA\u2019s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has decided to advance a proposal to repeal the standard.<\/p>\n

The council voted Friday to send a proposed repeal of the standard out for notice and comment and extend the current suspension of Standard 206 until Aug. 31, 2027.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Emotions be damned: if you\u2019re going to get rid of it, just get rid of it. If you want to keep it on the books to spite the administration, fine, but do it and stand firm for something<\/a>. Stand on your principles, suffer the consequences, and hope that fate smiles on you as it did Costco<\/a>. But this slow dance of \u201cit breaks my heart to do this\u201d and \u201cschools need clear rules to operate\u201d muddies values and benefits no one. And let\u2019s be honest. Pushing the decision off until next year is not that much better.<\/p>\n

ABA Weighing Repeal of Law School Diversity Standard<\/a> [Law.com]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: ABA Committee Decides To Diversify Diversity. It Should Come With A Clear Reason For Why That\u2019s Important.<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA President Says They Aren\u2019t \u2018Retreating\u2019 From Diversity Promises. Does He Know What The ABA Has Been Up To?<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA Diversity And Inclusion Standard Looks Like It\u2019s On Its Last Legs<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post ABA\u2019s Defunct Diversity In Law School Standard Moves Toward Getting Repealed<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ABA has been trying to slow Standard 206\u2019s bleeding since the Court handed down SFFA v. Harvard. In short, the standard held that law schools had to take concrete actions showing a commitment to diversity by providing full opportunities to study the law and enter the profession to underrepresented groups. If they didn\u2019t, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144663,"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-144662","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\/02\/Chris-Williams-2025-RG84tS.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144662","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=144662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}