The U.S. Department of Education says the country’s largest legal association shouldn’t be allowed to accredit law schools. A long track record of ideological bias and a cozy relationship between an accrediting committee and the American Bar Association proves that public officials are correct in their judgment. Even with major changes to the ABA, law schools should have more choices over who gives the school a seal of quality.
In August, the Education Department recommended that the ABA lose its accrediting authority. The ABA is the largest association of attorneys in the U.S.—and the world—so the department’s recommendation will have far-reaching implications.
For years, the ABA’s Accreditation Council was the only federally authorized law school accreditor. This accrediting role gives the ABA influence over law schools’ operations and instruction. The ABA claims its council is separate from the association—a separation required by law—but our Heritage Foundation colleague Zack Smith agrees with the department’s finding that this council does not approve its own bylaws “without further approvals” from the General ABA. The council, then, is not sufficiently “separate and independe...