ABA Removes Race-Based Criteria From Diversity Scholarship After Lawsuit Challenges Program

The American Bar Association has revised a long-running scholarship program designed to promote diversity in the legal field, removing language that restricted eligibility to students from “ethnic minority” or “underrepresented racial” groups.

According to Reuters, under the new criteria, applicants for the ABA’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship must now show “a strong commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to updated guidelines posted last month on the organization’s website.

The change follows a lawsuit filed in March by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a conservative group led by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum. The group accused the ABA of discriminating against white applicants by excluding them from the 25-year-old program, which provides $15,000 scholarships to about two dozen law students annually.

In a filing Friday, the Alliance informed the Chicago federal court overseeing the case of the revised rules but argued the lawsuit should continue, saying the ABA failed to publicly announce the change. The group is seeking nominal damages and maintains that its case is not moot.

An ABA spokesperson told Reuters that the organization’s Board of Governors had already approved a resolution—prior to the lawsuit—reaffirming its commitment to diversity while directing programs not to base eligibility on specific racial or ethnic identities. The ABA also said it notified the court that it might amend the scholarship criteria in line with that resolution.

Blum, in an email to supporters on Saturday, said the new policy “reinforces the Alliance’s position that the racial restriction was never essential to the ABA’s mission or expression.”

The ABA, in a June motion to dismiss the case, argued the program was protected under the First Amendment and that the Alliance had not demonstrated harm sufficient to establish standing.

The scholarship revision mirrors another policy shift last year when the ABA removed references to “minority students” and “communities of color” from its Judicial Clerkship Program. That change followed a complaint from another conservative legal organization, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which accused the ABA of using unlawful racial preferences in its diversity initiatives.