Attorney General Pam Bondi warned the American Bar Association on Monday that it should abandon requirements for law schools to demonstrate a commitment to “diversity and inclusion,” or expect to face further action from the Justice Department.
Bondi wrote a letter to the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar telling it to immediately end a policy requiring accredited law schools to focus on cultivating a “diverse” student body. The letter said that the policies were illegal and violated the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action.
“I am writing because, for years, the Council [–] the sole body charged with accrediting American law schools has subjected law faculties and law students to unlawful race and sex discrimination under the guise of ‘diversity’ mandates, and that policy must be repealed immediately,” Bondi wrote in a letter shared with The Daily Wire.
Bondi specifically pointed to the American Bar Association’s Standard 206 policies, which require law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” and having both a student body and faculty that “are diverse with respect to gender, race and ethnicity.”
The enforcement of that policy was suspended last week until August 31, 2025, as the Bar Association council considers revising the standards. Bondi applauded the decision to suspend enforcement, but urged the council to completely get rid of the policy.
“I am writing on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice to make clear that when the Council revisits the issue, there is just one appropriate course: The Standard must be repealed in its entirety. And there is no reason to wait; the Council should repeal the Standard immediately,” she said. “Even without an explicit mandate requiring law schools to actually have diverse faculties and student bodies, any requirement that law schools demonstrate ‘a commitment to diversity’ is deeply problematic.”