American Bar Association allegedly skips conservative panel on law school accreditation fight

FIRST ON FOX: The panelist the American Bar Association expects from its law school accreditation council did not attend a conservative Federalist Society event about the ABA’s “monopoly” on law school accreditation.

The Trump administration accused the ABA of acting as a politicized watchdog, restricting members of executive agencies from attending ABA events, and law school accreditation standards related to diversity were deemed illegal. Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi later stepped up the effort by telling the ABA that special access to the judicial review process would no longer be granted; Concerns subsequently emerged that the rating process for federal judicial candidates was also biased. .

At a Thursday event across the street from where the ABA is holding its spring antitrust conference, America First Legal President Gene Hamilton suggested the ABA not participate because the group’s stance on the issue was “indefensible.”

“I don’t know the whole background. So I’m just a moderator, but if I were a bettor, I think I would have suspicions that the status quo of the ABA, their position and their involvement in the process, is untenable from the perspective of someone who is trying to present themselves as a neutral, disinterested party only interested in the accreditation of law schools,” Hamilton said.

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“If you’re trying to maintain an image that doesn’t match reality when they’re confronted with hard facts, evidence, data, and real experiences from real people, multiple people, not just one person but multiple people, that doesn’t make for a great environment.”

Panelists at Thursday’s event noted conflicts with the ABA and its affiliated legal bodies, which they described concretely firsthand. First Deputy Attorney General of Texas Brent Webster, for example, argued that the politicization of the legal institution became real for him when the State Bar of Texas sought to strip him and Attorney General Ken Paxton of their law licenses over a lawsuit Texas filed after the 2020 election.

Webster said the fight, which resulted in the Texas Supreme Court vindicating him, helped reveal to Texas officials how deeply “radicalized” bar institutions had become and contributed to the state’s decision to loosen the ABA’s grip on law school approval.

Texas First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster (right) speaks with America First Law President Gene Hamilton (left) about the American Bar Association’s “monopoly” on law school accreditation at a Federalist Society event in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Digital)

Meanwhile, Florida State Attorney General David Dewhirst, St. He made a parallel argument through the experience of the University of St. Thomas law school in Miami; He said the ABA was left in long-term uncertainty about whether its Catholic identity could coexist with the ABA’s nondiscrimination standards, particularly sexual orientation and gender identity.

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These stories were presented as real-world examples of the broader complaint highlighted at Thursday’s event: that the ABA no longer acts as a neutral professional organization but as an ideological gatekeeper with the power to determine who is trained, licensed and recognized in the legal profession.

Florida Attorney General David Dewhirst speaks about the American Bar Association’s “monopoly” on law school accreditation at a Federalist Society event in Washington, DC. (Fox News Digital)

A representative from the ABA Section of Legal Education and Bar Admission said he was not even aware that Melissa Hart, former Colorado Supreme Court Justice and chair-elect of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Bar Admission, was listed as a panelist. They added that the invitation sent to them on March 13 was “last minute,” according to the Federalist Society, and that no one was available to attend, even though the Federalist society told Fox News that their open invitation to the ABA was approved about a week after it was sent.

Hamilton added of the ABA’s absence from the event: “From an ABA perspective, it makes it a difficult time to be in a slightly more direct, open and concise environment right now when we’re under serious pressure from both the federal government, the states, and a lot of people who are waking up to their nonsense.”

American Bar Association (ABA) (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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At the event, Hamilton unveiled a new report from America First Legal showing that the ABA’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs aligned 80% of left-leaning liberal arguments over the past decade, with 20% neutral and zero conservative. In all six cases, the ABA filed amicus briefs on Trump; The ABA opposed the president or his allies.

“The ABA requires amicus briefs to be approved by the board and be consistent with current ABA policy or include matters of ‘particular importance to lawyers or the legal profession’,” the AFL said in a press release. “Summaries on birthright citizenship, transgenderism healthcare The AFL said in a press release announcing the new research that minors and the Texas heartbeat law fall well outside that mandate.