The American Bar Association is in settlement discussions amid a lawsuit from a nonprofit helmed by Edward Blum over law school scholarships, according to a Tuesday court filing.
Lawyers for the ABA and the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a group founded by affirmative action foe Blum, are asking for more time to talk as “the parties are currently engaged in settlement discussions to determine whether they can resolve this matter without further litigation,” a filing in Chicago federal court said.
This comes after the alliance sued the ABA in April 2025. The alliance alleged the professional organization’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship violates civil rights law by using “whiteness as a proxy for advantage and minority status as a proxy for disadvantage.”
The Legal Opportunity Scholarship offers $15,000 to around 25 first-year law students.
The ABA widened the scholarship’s eligibility last year to students who “have demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The change reverses its traditional eligibility pool, which previously limited applications to students who are members of underrepresented racial or ethnic minority groups.
Both parties requested another status update deadline for March 27.
The alliance is being represented by attorneys at Virginia-founded boutique Consovoy McCarthy, including Thomas McCarthy, Cameron Norris, Matt Pociask and Gabriel Anderson. The ABA tapped lawyers at Jenner & Block, a Trump-targeted law firm, to defend the allegations.
The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. American Bar Association, D. Ill., 1:25-cv -03980, 10/31/25
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