In a move garnering attention, Congress has scheduled a hearing to investigate whether the American Bar Association (ABA) is leveraging its significant power in law school accreditation to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the legal sector.
Heading the charge is Rep. Brandon Gill from Texas, who, as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Constitutional Abuses, has set the hearing for Wednesday. During this session, ABA President Michelle A. Behnke will be called upon to explain the organization’s sway over law school accreditation processes.
“DEI represents a misguided ideology that fosters unlawful bias and unfairly deprives qualified Americans of career and educational opportunities,” Gill remarked. “The ABA has misused its accreditation powers to impose detrimental, and occasionally illegal, DEI-driven policies and curriculum across U.S. law schools.”
Gill went further, asserting that the ABA’s backing of DEI initiatives has resulted in the education of lawyers who seem to prioritize activism over adherence to legal principles.
Rep. Brandon Gill, arriving for a House Republican Conference caucus gathering at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2026, addressed members of the media. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The task force has laid out the goal of exploring “how Congress can help permanently eliminate DEI policies within American institutions, including the legal profession and academy.”
The ABA’s accreditation system gives it considerable influence over legal education. Its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the only accreditor of Juris Doctor programs recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and graduation from an ABA-approved law school is the standard path to taking the bar exam in most states.
In the hearing, Behnke is expected to argue that the council operates independently of the broader ABA, a distinction she made clear in a June 1 statement.
Despite the council’s decision in May to repeal certain diversity and inclusion standards for law schools, Behnke said the ABA still has an “unwavering” commitment to DEI, comments that Gill and other committee members are likely to scrutinize.
American Bar Association President Michelle A. Behnke is set to testify in front of the House’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Constitutional Abuses on Wednesday. (Business Wire via AP)
“The legal profession is strongest when it draws on the experiences, talents and perspectives of people from every background and every community,” Behnke said last month. “Diversity does not weaken our profession. It deepens it. It broadens understanding, strengthens public trust and helps ensure the law serves all people fairly and fully.”
President Donald Trump has put pressure on law firms and other American companies to end DEI practices.
However, even before Trump returned to the White House last January, the ABA accreditation council was already considering revising Standard 206 of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools. A November 2024 revision called for removing sections including a requirement for law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion by having a faculty and staff that are diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”
President Donald Trump looks on before presenting the FIFA World Cup Winner’s Trophy to Spain after the Final FIFA World Cup 2026 match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
In August 2024, the council began revising Standard 206 to remove language expressly permitting the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions.
The revisions also clarified that law schools were not required to consider race or other identity characteristics in individual admissions decisions.
In May 2026, the ABA’s accreditation council voted to repeal Standard 206, which had already been suspended since February 2025.