New Report: Law Schools Face Unlawful Accreditation Demands 

Arlington, Virginia; July 16, 2025: Law schools across the country face unconstitutional pressure from the American Bar Association (ABA) to use race and sex preferences in admissions and hiring, according to a new Pacific Legal Foundation report. The report, based on public records from 45 top public law schools, reveals widespread coercion by the ABA — the sole federally approved accreditor of Juris Doctor programs—to adopt discriminatory practices.

“Law schools are being forced to choose between constitutional compliance and maintaining accreditation,” said Caitlin Styrsky, strategic research manager at Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). “Our research shows that the ABA’s standards and enforcement practices are pushing schools to violate federal civil rights law and Supreme Court precedent.”

The report, authored by Styrsky and PLF senior legal fellow Alison Somin, documents how ABA accreditation standards, particularly Standards 205 and 206, have led to unlawful race and gender quotas. These mandates conflict with state laws and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which reaffirmed that race-based preferences in education are unconstitutional.

Despite recent federal executive action pausing enforcement of certain ABA standards, the report warns that only congressional legislation can end these unlawful mandates for good. Somin and Styrsky call for targeted reforms to the Higher Education Act to ensure that accreditation does not become a backdoor for discrimination.

The report is Unconstitutional Accreditation Pressures Force Law Schools to Discriminate against Faculty and Students.