Texas is now the first state in the U.S. to eliminate American Bar Association oversight of its law schools, ending the state's 42-year-long reliance on the national organization.
The Texas Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday finalizing a tentative September opinion, asserting the ABA should "no longer have the final say" on which law school graduates can take the bar exam — a requirement to becoming a licensed lawyer in each state.
"The Court advised that it intends to provide stability, certainty, and flexibility to currently approved law schools by guaranteeing ongoing approval to schools that satisfy a set of simple, objective, and ideologically neutral criteria using metrics no more onerous than those currently required by the ABA," reads the order signed by all nine justices.
The change means law school graduates who want to practice in Texas are no longer required to attend an ABA-accredited school. The power to approve those law schools now rests solely with the state's highest civil court.
In the absence of national guidance, however, the Texas Supreme Court stipulated in Tuesday's order that it intends to preserve graduates' ability to use Texas law school degrees in other states and out-of-state law degrees in Texas. The court also doesn't anticipate immediate changes to the current list of approved law schools and could return to relying on a different multi-state accrediting entity in the future.
The ABA, a voluntary professional association for lawyers, has accredited law schools across the country since 1923. That means schools must comply with the ABA's standards for its faculty, curriculum and facilities, provide adequate resources for student support, demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion and have successful bar passage rates among graduates. Not all law schools are ABA-approved.
Trump issued an executive order earlier this year that stripped the ABA of millions in USAID and U.S. State Department funding. The ABA and others sued in February, alleging the administration violated administrative law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the ABA later that month alleging its diversity requirements conflicted with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in college admissions. The letter also threatened to take away the ABA's ability to accredit law schools.
Florida, Ohio and Tennessee are also considering parting ways with the ABA.
https://www.keranews.org/news/2026-01-06/texas-supreme-court-ends-american-bar-association-law-school-accreditation