Overview
- The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s accreditation council voted to remove Standard 206, the rule requiring law schools to show a commitment to diversity, in a 10–6 tally with one abstention at a special meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
- The repeal takes effect immediately and bars the council from enforcing diversity commitments as an accreditation requirement while leaving law schools free to pursue DEI work on their own.
- Council leaders including chair Melissa Hart said they repealed the standard to preserve the council’s recognition by state supreme courts and the U.S. Department of Education, which had recommended stripping the council of federal recognition in August.
- A Department of Education advisory panel will review the derecognition recommendation starting Sept. 23 and the department’s undersecretary, Nicholas Kent, will issue a final decision months later, so federal student aid and interstate bar-licensing implications remain unresolved.
- Critics pointed to anonymous votes and absent members as evidence of governance and independence problems and warned the repeal signals a retreat from institutional DEI commitments even as some observers expect law schools to continue diversity efforts voluntarily.