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            (Sterling, VA) The Center for Equal Opportunity today sent a formal comment to the U.S. Department of Education, urging it “not to renew the law-school accreditation authority of the American Bar Association” unless the Department “receive[s] formal assurance that the ABA will not use that authority to coerce law schools into using racial, ethnic, and sex discrimination and preferences in the selection and treatment of students and faculty.”  CEO’s comment letter is available on its website, www.ceousa.org.

            CEO’s letter was prompted by complaints it has received in the past from law schools about the ABA strong-arming schools into “getting their numbers right,” and, in particular, by the vote last month of the ABA’s Council on the Section of Legal Education, which would revise the current Standard it uses regarding “diversity” at law schools.

            The new Standard and its Interpretations ratchet up the potential for abuse in a number of ways.  They are more blatant in requiring good numbers for both faculty and staff and, most remarkably, state:  “The requirement of a constitutional provision or statute that purports to prohibit consideration of gender, race, ethnicity, or national origin in admissions or employment decisions is not a justification for a school’s non-compliance [with the Standard].”

            CEO president and general counsel Roger Clegg said, “It is outrageous that the ABA should use its accreditation authority to force law schools to engage in politically correct and illegal discrimination.  It would be even more outrageous were the Department of Education to allow the ABA to extort such illegal and unfair behavior.”

            The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization that studies issues relating to race and ethnicity nationwide.