ABA Accreditation Should End in Texas, Justices Say Tentatively

The Texas Supreme Court said it’s their “tentative opinion” that the American Bar Association should no longer decide which Texas law schools can send graduates to sit for the state bar exam.

Instead, the Texas Supreme Court would have power to approve law schools under amendments to state bar rules that justices proposed Friday. Eligible schools would “satisfy a set of simple, objective, and ideologically neutral criteria (such as bar exam passage rate) using metrics no more onerous than those currently required by the ABA,” the preliminary order said.

The court “does not anticipate immediate changes to the current list of approved law schools,” it said. The public can weigh in until Dec. 1 and the amendments would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

The ABA’s diversity requirements for law schools have made it a target of the Trump administration, which in February threatened to pull its accrediting power nationwide unless it ends the policies. The ABA said it would temporarily suspend enforcement of its diversity and inclusion mandate.

Texas justices in April announced they’d review ABA accreditation rules, without explanation. Florida and Ohio are among other Republican-led states examining ABA accreditation. Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock said later in an interview with Bloomberg Law the ABA “does not seem to be the kind of organization that all lawyers regardless of their viewpoint can be proud to be a part of.”

In the lead up to Friday’s order, eight of Texas’ ten law school deans urged the court not to cut ties, saying it would hurt the schools’ national reputations and undermine the availability of quality legal services in the state.