The Trump administration has recommended ending the American Bar Association’s federal recognition as a law school accreditor, citing concerns that the organization has used its position to advance ideological priorities and lacks sufficient independence in overseeing legal education.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Trump administration has begun a formal process that could end the American Bar Association’s longstanding role as the federally recognized accreditor of U.S. law schools, opening a potentially significant restructuring of how legal education is overseen nationwide.
The Department of Education on Friday recommended that the ABA no longer be recognized as an accrediting organization, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The recommendation follows a department review lasting more than a year and is supported by a report approaching 500 pages.
The ABA currently reviews nearly 200 law schools throughout the United States, giving the organization substantial influence over legal education, access to federal student aid and, indirectly, eligibility to practice law.
Federal recognition of an accreditor can affect whether institutions participate in federal student loan programs. Most states also require applicants seeking admission to the bar to have graduated from an ABA-approved law school.
The Education Department argues that the current system has given accrediting organizations too much authority to impose policy and ideological requirements on the institutions they oversee.
David Barker, assistant secretary of education, said the administration sees the broader accreditation structure as insufficiently competitive.
“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel,” Barker told the Journal. “When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”
The department’s report also argues that the ABA’s law school accreditation operation is not sufficiently independent from the larger ABA organization or from the legal profession more broadly, according to the Journal.
The action comes after a prolonged dispute over the ABA’s diversity requirements for law schools.
Standard 206 required accredited schools to demonstrate “concrete action” toward increasing diversity and inclusion among their students, faculty and staff.
The Trump administration and other conservative critics argued that the requirement pressured schools toward race- and sex-conscious admissions and employment practices.
The ABA suspended enforcement of Standard 206 in February 2025 and later extended the suspension.
The organization has subsequently moved toward eliminating the provision altogether.
Bloomberg Law reported earlier this month that the ABA House of Delegates had cleared the way for the organization’s independent accreditation council to remove Standard 206 after the council had already voted in favor of repealing it.
The administration had warned well before Friday’s recommendation that the ABA could lose its accrediting status.
Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi told the organization in February 2025 that its accreditation authority could be revoked.
The ABA responded that Standard 206 was no longer being enforced and maintained that its accreditation council operated independently from the broader association.
Friday’s action does not immediately revoke the ABA’s federal recognition or prevent it from continuing to review law schools.
The Education Department recommendation must proceed through an additional administrative process.
A panel responsible for reviewing accrediting organizations will consider the department’s findings before making its own recommendation to Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent, who will then be involved in the final determination.
That process could take several months.
Melissa Hart, chair of the ABA’s Accreditation Council, said the council believes it meets federal standards and will continue focusing on the quality of legal education.
Hart told the Journal that the council remains committed to producing “competent, ethical attorneys.”
Losing federal recognition could have different consequences depending on the structure of individual law schools.
Law schools that are part of larger universities could potentially rely on the accreditation held by their parent institutions for purposes related to federal recognition and student aid.
Independent law schools, however, could face a more complicated transition and might need to find another accrediting organization.
The Education Department’s action represents an escalation in the Trump administration’s broader effort to challenge accreditation systems it believes have allowed professional and academic organizations to impose ideological requirements on colleges, universities and professional schools.
Because the ABA’s accreditation standards have long been intertwined with both federal financial aid and state bar eligibility rules, a final decision to remove its federal recognition could have consequences extending beyond the association itself and force states, law schools and other accrediting organizations to reconsider how legal education is approved and regulated.
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