ABA bites the dust in Texas, Texas - Yee Haw!

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Texas kicks ABA to da curb and back. 'Bout danged time.

Texas ends ABA accreditation monopoly in the Lone Star State

State Supreme Court 'is of the tentative opinion' group 'should no longer have the final say on whether a law school's graduates are eligible to sit for the bar exam'

By Zack Smith, The Daily Signal October 12, 2025

In the little over 100 years since its founding, the American Bar Association has transformed from an organization designed to promote best practices in the legal profession to one promoting partisan political positions that are immoral, illegal, and unethical.

But despite its woke commitments, the ABA has remained the nation's only nationally recognized law school accreditor. On top of that, many states specifically require that those who sit for their state's bar exam must first have graduated from an ABA-accredited law school.

The ABA long ago ceased to promote best practices for legal education—leading my colleague at The Heritage Foundation and me to call for federal and state actions to end the ABA's accreditation monopoly.

In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order explicitly criticizing the ABA's accrediting arm for its problematic DEI practices and ordering the Department of Education to "hold accountable [consistent with applicable law], including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law."

Trump clarified that accreditors violate federal law by "requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' initiatives."

That's after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had already notified the ABA it was likely breaking the law by pushing its DEI policies.

Last week, Texas became the first state to adopt our main state-level recommendation, with its supreme court eliminating the requirement that an individual has to have graduated from an ABA-accredited law school to sit for the bar in that state.

"The Court is of the tentative opinion that the ABA should no longer have the final say on whether a law school's graduates are eligible to sit for the Texas bar exam and become licensed to practice law in Texas," the Texas Supreme Court wrote.

Now, it falls to the Texas Supreme Court itself to decide whether a law school qualifies as an "approved law school" eligible to have its graduates sit for, and become members of, the Texas bar.

The change won't take effect until early in 2026—after a period for public comment—but this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

Texas isn't the only state considering such changes.

Florida's Supreme Court is considering a similar step, and other states will likely follow suit—as they should.

After all, the ABA tried to bully George Mason University's law school into discriminating against students based on race—even going so far as to threaten the school's accreditation unless it applied different admissions standards based on race.

The ABA has pushed policies that likely violate the First Amendment by restricting what attorneys can—and cannot—say.

And it even—absurdly—claimed the Equal Rights Amendment had become the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. That position proved so radical, legally untenable, and dangerous that even President Joe Biden's own archivist (the official responsible for formally recognizing new constitutional amendments) rejected it, as did the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Thankfully, Texas has taken a first and important step toward eliminating the ABA's undue and unwarranted influence on legal education and the legal community more broadly.

Stay tuned, because there's likely more to come from other states and the federal government.

Take your woke azz chite outta here. Go on! Git!

[ICU 812]

Thank you for reporting on this issue.

Like many, I am sure, I had no idea that this was going on.

What about the American Medical Association now? Will someone lift the rock and shine a light ?

[Precious_b]

So, what will be the equivalent to passing the BAR in tejas?

[ICU 812]

Originally Posted by Precious_b

So, what will be the equivalent to passing the BAR in tejas?

Oh I dunno . . .maybe your grades in Law School?

Some how licensure in other fields doesn't seem to be so distorted by politics,

Engineering isn't for instance.

I trained as Nuclear Medicine Technologist and took exams from two different professional organizations. To qualify to take the exams, I had to show that I had successfully completed the course of study at an accredited school for that field. Later on, I had to document a number of hours of continuing education every yer to maintain my state issued license.

This shouldn't be that big a deal. The law profession should be able to clean this up themselves.

If they cannot fix this, it validates every disparaging lawyer joke.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by Precious_b

So, what will be the equivalent to passing the BAR in tejas?

It's local (State level) and you need to take it in another state, even though you passed in a previous State, if you want to practice law in that another State.

In other words: it's not universal, though the law school degree is, which is a potential problem for another discussion.

[ICU 812]

Isn't there a constitutional clause about states recognizing licensure from other states . . .like a driver's license or more lately, a CCW permit?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by ICU 812

Isn't there a constitutional clause about states recognizing licensure from other states . . .like a driver's license or more lately, a CCW permit?

See the movie My Cousin Vinny, as it applies to Law Licensure.

[ICU 812]

I liked that movie,. but the legal issues escaped me . . .There was some calling New York for credential he didn't have, but my attention was really on watching Marissa Torme walk.

Can you clarify the what the movie sows about practicing law in a different state?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by ICU 812

...Can you clarify the what the movie sows about practicing law in a different state?

First time Vinny meets Judge Holleran (sp?), the judge explains that there is a formality of being accepted to practice law in another state, but you have to bone up on their rules and procedures.

Other than that, I have someone, a lawyer, who just moved to another state and had to pass their bar exam to be eligible to practice law there.

Beyond that, if you look much into a law school, you will find that most lawyers from there take their first bar exam in a concentration of just a couple states typically.