{"id":662271,"date":"2021-08-19T14:21:36","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T18:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=662271"},"modified":"2021-08-19T14:21:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T18:21:38","slug":"american-bar-association-poised-to-mandate-diversity-training-affirmative-action-at-law-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-bar-association-poised-to-mandate-diversity-training-affirmative-action-at-law-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"American Bar Association Poised To Mandate Diversity Training, Affirmative Action at Law Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famerican-bar-association-poised-to-mandate-diversity-training-affirmative-action-at-law-schools%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=662271&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"30.799249530957\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/\">Campus<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Legal scholars say mandates could force law schools to violate federal law<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-736x514-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-scaled-e1629396885767.jpg 736w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-1024x716.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-2048x1432.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-1400x979.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-176425076-1-702x491.jpg 702w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tSAN FRANCISCO, CA &#8211; AUGUST 12:  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the 2013 America Bar Association (ABA) annual meeting on August 12, 2013 in San Francisco, California. The ABA honored Hillary Clinton with its highest honor, the ABA Medal.  (Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/aaron-sibarium\/\" title=\"Posts by Aaron Sibarium\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Aaron Sibarium<\/a> \u2022 August 19, 2021 2:16 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"142.32492558358\">\n<p>The American Bar Association is poised to mandate diversity training and affirmative action at all of its accredited law schools, a move top legal scholars say could jeopardize academic freedom and force schools to violate federal law.<\/p>\n<p>The association, which accredits nearly every law school in the United States, is mulling a <a href=\"https:\/\/taxprof.typepad.com\/files\/aba-council.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/taxprof.typepad.com\/files\/aba-council.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHgJyuSfi9Jx7fLOO3MGk42098Zpg\">plan<\/a> that would require schools to &#8220;provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism,&#8221; including a mandatory ethics course instructing students that they have an obligation to fight &#8220;racism in the law.&#8221; Schools would also be required to &#8220;take effective actions&#8221; to &#8220;diversify&#8221; their student bodies\u2014even when doing so risks violating a law that &#8220;purports to prohibit consideration of&#8221; race or ethnicity.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal has sparked fierce blowback from legal scholars across the country, including 10 emeritus professors at Yale Law School, who called it a &#8220;problematic&#8221; and &#8220;disturbing&#8221; attempt to &#8220;institutionalize dogma&#8221; through the accreditation process. Violating federal law is &#8220;not legally defensible conduct for any institution,&#8221; they wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/content\/dam\/aba\/administrative\/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar\/council_reports_and_resolutions\/comments\/2021\/june-2021\/june-21-comment-yale-law-school.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/content\/dam\/aba\/administrative\/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar\/council_reports_and_resolutions\/comments\/2021\/june-2021\/june-21-comment-yale-law-school.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQ91zNvBug0JWMDpSERs6KvfeEqg\">public comment<\/a> on the plan in June, nor is it &#8220;a legally defensible requirement by an organization certifying law schools.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Those arguments have so far fallen on deaf ears: When the plan was submitted for final review on Aug. 16, it contained all of the provisions to which the Yale professors had objected.<\/p>\n<p>The American Bar Association is not the only accreditation body pushing progressivism. Many of the accreditors for private secondary schools require their members to <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/culture\/why-private-schools-have-gone-woke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/culture\/why-private-schools-have-gone-woke\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-kaXtBuu02J_fnoHhlCWR1s8C_w\">integrate social justice<\/a> into every aspect of their curricula, centralizing pedagogical power in the hands of bureaucrats rather than teachers. That&#8217;s diminished the autonomy of schools as well as families, who increasingly struggle to find institutions that are both well-credentialed and open-minded.<\/p>\n<p>Few accreditors, however, are as influential as the American Bar Association. There are fewer than 250 law schools in the United States, and 199 of them are accredited by the association. In most states, attending an ABA-accredited school is a prerequisite for taking the bar exam. So when the association sets standards for law schools, it is effectively setting them for the entire legal system: corporate lawyers, criminal prosecutors, state judges, and Supreme Court justices will all be educated in whatever ideology the association dictates\u2014even if it is indifferent to the rule of law itself.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed standards would institutionalize that indifference throughout legal academia. Laws prohibiting schools from considering race in admissions are &#8220;not a justification for a school&#8217;s non-compliance&#8221; with the diversity requirement, one standard reads. According to the Yale professors, &#8220;It would appear that [this language] instructs schools to risk violating state or federal law in order to retain certification.&#8221; Though the plan does tell schools to pursue diversity &#8220;by means other than those prohibited,&#8221; it never specifies what those means are, an omission the Yale professors say could encourage legally dubious activities.<\/p>\n<p>Such activities might include using &#8220;personal ratings&#8221; to <a href=\"http:\/\/samv91khoyt2i553a2t1s05i-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Doc-415-2-Arcidiacono-Rebuttal-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/samv91khoyt2i553a2t1s05i-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Doc-415-2-Arcidiacono-Rebuttal-Report.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHFAfhYLuuIaO1ar4jeDiOjeVB6gQ\">establish unofficial racial quotas<\/a>, a practice that has<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/case-files\/cases\/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-fellows-of-harvard-college\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/case-files\/cases\/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-fellows-of-harvard-college\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGc0vtWVsu-4Nm9hBUMXqDVcPdVkQ\"> landed Harvard in the Supreme Court<\/a>. Though universities can use race as a &#8220;plus factor&#8221; in admissions, they cannot set hard floors or ceilings for any particular racial group. The ABA\u2019s accreditation plan would encourage law schools to set those ceilings anyway, through the same sort of chicanery Harvard allegedly employs.<\/p>\n<p>It would also encourage students to see existing law as illegitimate. The plan mandates a course on &#8220;professional responsibility&#8221; that stresses lawyers&#8217; &#8220;obligation&#8221; to fight racism in the legal system\u2014implying the legal system is racist\u2014and requires students to learn about &#8220;bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism&#8221; at least two other times before graduating. &#8220;Courses on racism and bias in the law&#8221; are one way of satisfying that second requirement. Insofar as this curriculum assumes the law is unjust, it supplies a justification for disobeying it.<\/p>\n<p>The curricular mandates have elicited the strongest pushback from law professors, who see them as a fundamental threat to academic freedom. Brian Leiter, a legal theorist at the University of Chicago Law School, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/content\/dam\/aba\/administrative\/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar\/council_reports_and_resolutions\/comments\/2021\/june-2021\/june-21-comment-bernstein-and-leiter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/content\/dam\/aba\/administrative\/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar\/council_reports_and_resolutions\/comments\/2021\/june-2021\/june-21-comment-bernstein-and-leiter.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF2GdMZhIvD6PbzhaH3sMpIwuKuPA\">told the American Bar Association<\/a> that its plan would &#8220;almost certainly violate the academic freedom rights of faculty at many (probably most) schools.&#8221; Kate Stith, a professor and former dean at Yale Law School, was even more blunt, calling the proposal a &#8220;shocking&#8221; act of overreach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is totally inappropriate for a group like the American Bar Association to intrude into the content of law school curricula,&#8221; she told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The American Bar Association, which did not respond to a request for comment, will make a final decision on the plan next year.<\/p>\n<p>The most shocking thing about the proposal may be Yale&#8217;s intense institutional opposition to it. Yale Law School has one of the most leftwing faculties in the country, with fewer self-identified conservatives than Stanford, Harvard, or the University of Chicago law schools. It also has one of the most outspokenly progressive student bodies: Earlier this year, a raft of Yale Law affinity groups <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/yale-law-students-said-a-top-journal-was-racist-admissions-data-suggest-otherwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/yale-law-students-said-a-top-journal-was-racist-admissions-data-suggest-otherwise\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGOEEP229DV2vpvlms2AOO1r0ZDMQ\">demanded<\/a> that the school&#8217;s prestigious law journal &#8220;prioritize anti-racism&#8221; in its admissions process, falsely alleging that minorities were underrepresented on the masthead. The demands plunged the journal into chaos and led its former editor\u2014himself a minority and a proponent of affirmative action\u2014to <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/yale-law-journal-editor-apologizes-for-unwelcoming-culture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/yale-law-journal-editor-apologizes-for-unwelcoming-culture\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1629479518813000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFNug6NczVSH03sibKDnWZgPNokDQ\">apologize<\/a> for the &#8220;unwelcoming culture&#8221; he had presided over.<\/p>\n<p>Yale&#8217;s emeritus professors seemed to have had such uprisings in mind when they drafted their comment. They point to the ABA&#8217;s endorsement of &#8220;affinity groups&#8221;\u2014the same institutions that had launched the crusade against the Yale Law Journal\u2014as an example of ideological overreach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Affinity groups are by definition non-diverse,&#8221; the comment reads. &#8220;There are good faith differences of opinion about whether some affinity group programs support or detract from diversity goals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If the American Bar Association presses ahead with its plan, those programs could soon be a prerequisite for practicing law in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Campus Legal scholars say mandates could force law schools to violate federal law  SAN FRANCISCO, CA &#8211; AUGUST 12: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-662271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}