ABA Expands Diversity Scholarship Eligibility as Suit Continues

The American Bar Association softened its diversity, equity, and inclusion requirement in a scholarship program at the center of a discrimination lawsuit.

The ABA now accepts applications for its Legal Opportunity Scholarship from students who “have demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to a Friday court filing by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, an advocacy group challenging the program. The ABA previously limited applications to students who are members of underrepresented racial or ethnic minority groups.

The alliance, led by affirmative action foe Edward Blum, sued the ABA in April. The group alleged the scholarship violates anti-discrimination laws by using “whiteness as a proxy for advantage and minority status as a proxy for disadvantage.”

“The ABA’s recent changes to the scholarship suggest that it agrees,” the alliance said in the Friday filing in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The group said it intends to continue to pursue the lawsuit.

An ABA spokesperson acknowledged that the organization updated the eligibility criteria for the scholarship.

“Before the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit, the ABA Board of Governors passed a resolution reaffirming the ABA’s commitment to its goal of eliminating bias and enhancing diversity in the legal profession while also directing ABA entities not to base eligibility for participation in ABA programs on particular group identities,” the spokesperson said. “After the plaintiffs filed suit, the ABA informed the court that the ABA may change the eligibility criteria of the Legal Opportunity Scholarship before the next application cycle opens in accordance with the Board’s resolution.”

The ABA has faced pressure from public and federal forces to downgrade its DEI priorities. A coalition asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Feb. 10 to investigate the ABA over alleged bias in a diversity clerkship hiring program. A group of state attorneys general cautioned the ABA over its diversity standard in a Jan. 6 letter.

The organization previously made similar changes to the diversity clerkship program, which had required schools choose four to six students from underrepresented communities of color and asked judges to hire at least two minority clerks over five years.

The Legal Opportunity Scholarship offers $15,000 to 20-25 first-year law students.

The alliance is being represented by attorneys at Virginia-founded boutique Consovoy McCarthy, including Thomas McCarthy, Cameron Norris and Matt Pociask and Gabriel Anderson. The ABA tapped lawyers at Jenner & Block, a Trump-targeted law firm, to defend against the allegations.

The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. American Bar Association, N.D. Ill., No. 1:25-cv-03980, notice filed 10/31/25