Trump Administration to Decide by Late December on ABA’s Law School Accreditation Role; Separately, Judge Rejects DOJ Bid to Disqualify ABA’s Lawyers
The Trump administration is expected to decide by late December whether to strip the American Bar Association’s law school accrediting arm of its federal recognition, Fox News Digital reported Friday. Separately, a federal judge in Washington on Friday rejected the Justice Department’s bid to disqualify the law firm representing the ABA in its lawsuit over the administration’s executive orders against law firms.
The two matters are unrelated legally, but both put the nation’s largest lawyers’ group in a dispute with the administration.
THE ABA ACCREDITATION DECISION
According to Fox News Digital, the decision follows a September vote in which the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, the federal panel that advises the Education Department on accreditors, deadlocked on whether to recommend renewing the ABA’s recognition. Education Department staff had already recommended denying renewal, Fox reported, and the decision now rests with Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. The ABA’s accrediting arm has held federal recognition since 1952, according to the report.
Education Department officials previously told Fox News Digital that staff found the accreditor out of compliance with more than 26 federal recognition criteria, including concerns about the accrediting council’s independence from the broader ABA and its advocacy work. The ABA has disputed the department’s findings and defended its council’s independence, Fox reported.
Losing federal recognition would not automatically end the ABA’s accreditation of law schools or change state bar-admission rules, according to the report. Most states require bar applicants to have attended an ABA-accredited school, and state supreme courts set those rules.
Fox reported that Texas in January became the first state to end its sole reliance on ABA accreditation for bar eligibility, and that Florida followed nine days later. Adam Biggs, general counsel of the University of Austin, which is planning a law school without ABA accreditation, told Fox that most students would keep access to federal loans because most law schools are part of universities with their own accreditation. Sarah Parshall Perry of the nonprofit Defending Education estimated that about 15 standalone law schools could face federal funding complications, Fox reported.
In September, the ABA’s accrediting council voted 10-6 to repeal Standard 206, which had required law schools to show a commitment to diversity and inclusion, according to the report.
JUDGE REJECTS DOJ BID TO DISQUALIFY THE ABA’S LAWYERS
In a separate case, U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali denied the government’s motion to disqualify Susman Godfrey LLP from representing the ABA, according to a memorandum opinion and order dated Oct. 16.
The ABA sued federal agencies and officials in June 2025, alleging they “adopted an unlawful, coordinated policy of sanctioning law firms and their lawyers for representing clients and working on causes the government does not like,” the order says. Susman Godfrey was one of the firms targeted by an executive order and won a permanent injunction against it, which the government has appealed, according to the order.
The Justice Department argued that a District of Columbia ethics rule barred the firm from the case because it “cannot serve as both an advocate for the ABA and a fact witness in the same matter,” the order says.
“The government’s argument is not persuasive for a few reasons,” Ali wrote.
The judge said the rule applies when a lawyer “is likely to be a necessary witness,” and that “the government does not identify any lawyer at Susman Godfrey who is likely to be a necessary witness at trial.” He added: “To the contrary, the government concedes it cannot identify any lawyer who fits that description.”
Ali also wrote that the rule “restricts representation by individual lawyers, not by their law firms.” He concluded: “The court finds the lawyers representing the ABA in this case are not likely to be necessary witnesses.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
The lawsuit continues in discovery, with the ABA keeping its chosen lawyers. On accreditation, the decision on federal recognition is expected by late December, according to Fox News Digital. Even if recognition is revoked, the ABA could keep accrediting law schools, leaving each state to decide whether to keep relying on it.
Sources: Memorandum Opinion and Order, American Bar Association v. Executive Office of the President, No. 25-cv-01888 (AHA) (D.D.C. Oct. 16, 2026); Fox News Digital (Oct. 16, 2026). Cover and in-post backgrounds: E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse photos via Wikimedia Commons (public domain and CC BY 4.0).
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