The American Bar Association is about to lose its monopoly over American law schools — and the Trump administration just landed the first blow.
The Department of Education announced Friday it is moving forward with stripping the ABA of its status as the only officially recognized accreditor of U.S. law schools, ending decades of left-wing ideological control over legal education.
Department of Education staff recommended the ABA lose its exclusive accreditation power, starting a process that will send the recommendation to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, then to Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent for final review.
“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel. When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”
Assistant Secretary of Education David Barker made that statement to The Wall Street Journal, according to the outlet’s reporting.
The Education Department prepared a nearly 500-page report detailing the ABA’s abuse of authority over law schools and its failure to maintain independence from the legal profession, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The move is a new line of attack against the ABA, which was already scheduled for a hearing before NACIQI in September. If the ABA loses accreditation authority, university-affiliated law schools could still be accredited under their parent institution’s umbrella — but standalone law schools would lose access to federal student loans without ABA approval.
The Trump administration has targeted university accreditors for months because of their political activism. Trump has called accreditation a “secret weapon” to fight the far-left capture of higher education.
Earlier this week, the Department of Education published a proposed rule making it easier to recognize new accreditors across higher education — opening the door for competition against entrenched left-wing gatekeepers.
“The American Bar Association has abused its role as the nation’s main law school accreditor to push leftist ideology in the legal profession. The ABA lost its credibility long ago. Now it will finally face the repercussions of prioritizing political agendas over the law.”
Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, said that on social media.
The ABA claims it stopped some of its overtly discriminatory requirements — affirmative action hiring mandates and DEI programming for students — but watchdog groups like Protect the Public’s Trust say those rollbacks are temporary posturing until a Democrat administration returns.
Movement against the ABA from outside groups has been mounting. The Trump administration’s Friday announcement marks the most aggressive federal action yet to dismantle the organization’s control over legal education.
Law schools not affiliated with a larger university rely on accreditation to remain eligible for federal student loans — giving the ABA enormous leverage to enforce ideological compliance. That leverage is about to disappear.
The American Bar Association has abused its role as the nation's main law school accreditor to push leftist ideology in the legal profession.
The ABA lost its credibility long ago. Now it will finally face the repercussions of prioritizing political agendas over the law. https://t.co/6fePgCGFF2
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) August 21, 2026
