Trump Admin Moves to Strip ABA Accrediting Power

The Education Department on Friday began the process of stripping the American Bar Association of its authority to accredit the nation's law schools, assistant secretary of education David Barker said.

That authority is the gate to two things law students care about: the ABA's stamp is required for a school to access federal student-loan money, and in most states graduates of schools without ABA approval cannot sit for the bar exam to become licensed lawyers.

The ABA reviews nearly 200 law schools. The administration accuses it of pushing a progressive agenda on legal education, including diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Who Accredits Law Schools If Not the ABA

Nothing changes yet. Any final decision is two steps and several months away, and revocation is not certain, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal cited by Just the News and Raw Story.

The recommendation first goes to a panel that reviews accreditors, which then makes its own recommendation to Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent.

If the ABA does lose the authority, law schools attached to a university would likely shift to their parent institution's accreditor, while standalone law schools would have to find a new accreditor entirely, Raw Story reported.