Florida AG Blasts ‘Woke’ ABA and Pushes for New Legal Accreditor

The American Bar Association should lose authority in Florida to accredit law schools, state Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) said, because of its pattern of left-leaning political actions.

In a blistering rebuke of the national bar group and its “woke ideology,” Uthmeier on Wednesday urged a working group formed by the Florida Supreme Court to let an authority besides the ABA decide which schools’ graduates can sit for the state’s bar exam.

“Given its record, the ABA should no more be responsible for accrediting law schools than the American Civil Liberties Union,” Uthmeier wrote in a letter obtained by Bloomberg Law.

The letter says the ABA long ago ceased to be a non-partisan organization by lobbying in favor of liberal causes and filing briefs in watershed cases supporting abortion, universities using race in admissions decisions, and same-sex marriage.

“The ABA is now a brazenly political operation that seeks to impose its woke ideology on aspiring lawyers,” Uthmeier wrote.

Since 1992, the ABA has been the only accreditor recognized by the Florida Supreme Court.

The remarks come as Florida and other Republican-led states reexamine their relationship with the ABA. The Trump administration also has threatened to end the group’s right to accredit law schools over its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

The Texas Supreme Court is exploring alternative options, though deans at most of the state’s law schools came out in support of the national bar and predict ending the relationship will harm the quality of legal services available in the state. It would also present hurdles to graduates who wish to practice law in another state that maintains the ABA requirement, they said.

Uthmeier submitted his remarks as part of a public comment period that the working group is using to create a report due by Sept. 30. Earlier feedback from lawyers and an online law school likewise recommended an ABA split.

Uthmeier says the national bar is a “monopoly” as the only law school accreditor recognized by the US Department of Education.

“That control enables the ABA to fix prices, punish outsiders, raise barriers to entry, and stifle innovation. None of those things are good for the quality of legal education in Florida or the nation,” he wrote.