The Trump administration is moving to challenge the American Bar Association's longstanding authority to accredit law schools, an oversight role the organization has held since 1952.

The White House, joined by congressional Republicans, has accused the ABA of leveraging its dominant position in legal education to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ideology among up-and-coming lawyers. The accreditation fight is one strand of a broader confrontation between the administration and the legal profession, which has included executive actions targeting prominent law firms and funding disputes with universities over campus policies.

At the center of the effort is a 500-page Department of Education report, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, which argues that the ABA's accreditation wing is not sufficiently independent of the law profession itself.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Department of Education said its staff reviewed the ABA's accreditation standards and found the organization is "out of compliance" with federal accreditor regulations.

"We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing and involves multiple stages of review, including by an independent, bipartisan advisory committee in September," a Department of Education spokesperson said.

The ABA's influence over legal education

The ABA's accreditation system gives it considerable influence over the nearly 200 law schools it accredits in the United States. A private voluntary membership organization founded in 1878 rather than a government agency, the ABA holds that gatekeeping position through federal recognition: its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the only accreditor of Juris Doctor programs recognized by the Department of Education, and graduation from an ABA-approved law school is the standard path to taking the bar exam in most states.

The stakes extend directly to federal funding. Since the Higher Education Act was passed in 1965, only accredited universities can participate in federal student financial assistance programs. Students who attend non-accredited law schools cannot access federal student loans or grants.

Next procedural steps

The Department of Education's initial recommendation to reject the ABA as a federally recognized accreditor will go to a panel for review, The Wall Street Journal reported. That panel is the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), the independent advisory body that evaluates accreditors for federal recognition; it is scheduled to consider the matter in September before making its own recommendation to Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Melissa Hart, the chair of the ABA's Accreditation Council, said the council is complying with federal laws and regulations.

"Although it is difficult to comment on a recommendation we haven't yet received, we look forward to the opportunity to address any misconceptions and clarify the record at our upcoming hearing before the [National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity] committee next month," Hart said.

"As a national accrediting body for American law schools, we remain focused on ensuring quality legal education that produces competent, ethical attorneys who are eligible for licensure," she added. "The outcomes produced by Council-accredited law schools are unmatched, and we continue the important work of accrediting law schools as our recognition process proceeds."

What the law allows

Under the Higher Education Act, the secretary of education has the power to terminate the federal recognition of an accrediting agency, but only after the accreditor is given notice and an opportunity for a hearing. Accreditors are also generally given up to 12 months to come back into compliance before their recognition is terminated.

Federal challenges to the ABA's accreditation role are not without precedent. In 1995, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit over the association's accreditation practices, a case that was resolved in 1996 through a consent decree.

If the ABA lost its federal status as a trusted accreditor, law schools affiliated with a university would likely use the university's accreditor to maintain access to federal student aid programs. Freestanding law schools would face a more complicated situation, as there are no other federally recognized accreditors specifically for J.D. programs.

The Trump administration has not publicly detailed how those schools would retain access to federal student aid if the Department of Education rejects the ABA's accreditation authority.