The
American
Bar
Association
represents
itself
as
an
organization
committed
to
setting
the
legal
and
ethical
foundation
for
the
American
nation.
They
aspire
to
do
this
by
promoting
a
quality
legal
education
to
people
who
want
to
pursue
it.
It
isn’t
a
perfect
system
—
securing
funding
to
learn
what
you
need
to
learn
is
the
lion
share
of
the
battle,
but
the
ABA
does
its
part
by
assuring
that
law
schools
do
a
good
enough
job
of
teaching
their
students
what
they
need
to
know
to
pass
the
bar
and
practice.
This
is
all
very
duh
and
obvious
until
you
try
dealing
with
the
root
inequalities
that
product
disparities
in
access
to
education
and
the
profession.
One
of
the
ways
that
the
ABA
has
tried
to
mitigate
racial
discrimination
from
keeping
lawyers
out
of
the
profession
was
to
require
that
schools
make
a
good
effort
to
incorporate
historically
disenfranchised
folks
in
to
the
fold.
But
there’s
a
lot
of
money
and
influence
dedicated
to
being
angrier
at
corrective
measures
than
the
skewing
processes
that
produce
disparity,
kind
of
like
how
Sotomayor
had
to
apologize
for
her
comments
about
Kavanaugh
green
lighting
racial
profiling
before
he
was
ever
pushed
to
apologize
for
his
actual
opinion.
The
ABA
has
been
pussyfooting
about
its
commitment
to
diversity
for
a
year
now,
and
could
finally
vote
to
end
the
diversity
accreditation
requirement
as
early
as
May
15th.
Doing
so
wouldn’t
do
much
in
itself
—
there’s
been
a
moratorium
on
the
provision
having
any
real
effect
for
a
while
now
—
but
it
would
signal
a
turn
in
the
organization’s
commitment
to
“the
legal
and
ethical
foundation
[of]
the
American
nation.
Reuters
has
coverage:
Hundreds
of
law
professors,
deans,
students,
lawyers
and
bar
associations
are
urging
the
American
Bar
Association
not
to
eliminate
its
longstanding
diversity
and
inclusion
requirement
for
law
schools,
which
has
come
under
fire
amid
the
Trump
administration’s
widespread
campaign
against
DEI.The
arm
of
the
ABA
that
oversees
U.S.
law
schools
received
47
written
comments
from
individuals
and
groups
asking
it
to
retain
or
strengthen
the
law
school
diversity
standard
and
two
comments
in
support
of
repealing
the
rule
during
a
30-day
public
comment
period
that
ended
on
Monday.
…
Eliminating
the
rule
“will
be
rightly
viewed
as
capitulating
to
a
rightwing
movement
hostile
to
civil
rights
and
the
rule
of
law,”
a
national
organization
of
law
professors
called
the
Critical
Legal
Collective
wrote
in
one
of
the
public
comments.
That’s
the
short
and
long
of
it.
There
have
been
attempts
to
re-frame
the
motivation
for
closing
the
racial
umbrella
on
other
grounds.
One
of
the
more
interesting
pieces
of
spaghetti
thrown
against
the
wall
was
that
the
diversity
requirement
was
an
antitrust
violation,
but
if
and
when
the
ABA
abandons
its
commitment
to
diversity,
some
think
tanker
at
the
Heritage
Foundation
is
going
to
fire
up
the
grill,
cook
bland
food
and
order
Chick-Fil-A
so
the
group
doesn’t
have
to
eat
their
shameful
cooking
in
celebration.
If
pressures
from
the
administration
or
moneyed
right
wing
interests
were
all
it
took
for
the
ABA
to
change
its
tune,
how
long
until
the
next
domino
falls?
Will
they
stop
paying
lip
service
to
the
importance
of
the
rule
of
law
just
like
they’ve
given
up
on
the
importance
of
increased
access
to
the
profession?
They
can
hem
and
haw
about
how
difficult
their
decisions
are,
but
they
won’t
have
the
excuse
of
saying
that
they
didn’t
know
the
consequences
of
their
actions.
Law
Professors
Defend
ABA’s
Law
School
Diversity
Rule
Ahead
Of
Elimination
Vote
[Reuters]
ABA
Strikes
Back
At
Trump,
Condemning
His
Attacks
On
Lawyers
And
The
Rule
Of
Law
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
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at
[email protected]
and
by
Tweet/Bluesky
at @WritesForRent.