Texas is now the first state in the U.S. to eliminate American Bar Association oversight of its law schools, ending the state's 42-year-long reliance on the national organization.
The Texas Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday finalizing a tentative September opinion, asserting the ABA should "no longer have the final say" on which law school graduates can take the bar exam — a requirement to becoming a licensed lawyer in each state.
"The Court advised that it intends to provide stability, certainty, and flexibility to currently approved law schools by guaranteeing ongoing approval to schools that satisfy a set of simple, objective, and ideologically neutral criteria using metrics no more onerous than those currently required by the ABA," reads the order signed by all nine justices.
The change means law school graduates who want to practice in Texas are no longer required to attend an ABA-accredited school. The power to approve those law schools now rests solely with the state's highest civil court.
In the absence of national guidance, however, the Texas Supreme Court stipulated in Tuesday's order that it intends to preserve graduates' ability to use Texas law school degrees in other states and out-of-state law degrees in Texas. The court also doesn't anticipate immediate changes to the current list of approved law schools and could return to relying on a different multi-state accrediting entity in the future.
The ABA, a voluntary professional association for lawyers, has accredited law schools across the country since 1923. That means schools must comply with the ABA's standards for its faculty, curriculum and facilities, provide adequate resources for student support, demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion and have successful bar passage rates among graduates. Not all law schools are ABA-approved.
The Texas Supreme Court decided which law schools would satisfy law licensure requirements until 1983, when the court gave that responsibility to the ABA.
The high court first signaled it wanted to cut ties with the ABA in April and invited comments from the Texas Board of Law Examiners, Texas law school deans, the State Bar and the public. The court tentatively decided in September to do away with ABA accreditation, and the public comment period for that decision Dec. 1.
The all-Republican court hasn't given a reason for initiating the change, but it came after months of conflict between President Donald Trump, the ABA and the broader legal community.
Trump issued an executive order earlier this year that stripped the ABA of millions in USAID and U.S. State Department funding. The ABA and others sued in February, alleging the administration violated administrative law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the ABA later that month alleging its diversity requirements conflicted with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in college admissions. The letter also threatened to take away the ABA's ability to accredit law schools.
The ABA issued a statement in March criticizing the Trump administration's actions amid calls to impeach judges over rulings and an executive order targeting legal organizations for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — programs meant to address historical inequities in the workplace and academia.
Two FTC officials backed the Texas Supreme Court's move to end ABA accreditation in the state last month. In a letter to the court, the directors said the association has a monopoly over law school approval that has harmed competition and imposed restrictive and costly requirements.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, a Biden appointee, banned FTC political appointees from associating with the ABA in February.
Deans from eight of the state's 10 ABA-accredited law schools opposed abandoning the accreditation system in July, arguing the move would hurt lawyer mobility and increase costs.
The dean of the University of Texas School of Law notably didn't sign on to the letter and instead encouraged the Texas Supreme Court to explore alternatives to current ABA accreditation.
This isn't the first time ABA accreditation power has been scrutinized. The Department of Justice came to a settlement with the ABA in 1995 after the DOJ's antitrust division sued the association for allegedly using its power to protect faculties' economic interests and working conditions.
Florida, Ohio and Tennessee are also considering parting ways with the ABA.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
