ENDING D.E.I. AND CIVIL RIGHTS
On Tuesday, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates voted to end its longstanding practice of reserving five Board of Governors seats for women, racial minorities, and other underrepresented groups.
While those five positions will remain on the board, the new policy removes demographic restrictions. Instead, any ABA member who can demonstrate a commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) will be eligible to run for those positions.
The policy change follows debate over whether to reduce the number of reserved seats from five to three. In the final vote, delegates opted to keep all five positions but remove demographic eligibility requirements. The ABA said the move aligns with its April 2025 resolution reaffirming Goal III, which commits the association to “eliminating bias and enhancing diversity” by focusing on candidates’ demonstrated DEI commitments rather than identity-based criteria.
The decision comes amid declining ABA membership which fell from nearly 400,00 in 2015 to 227,000 in 2024, as well as external pressure from conservative legal groups and political leaders. The Trump administration has criticized the ABA’s diversity policies and threatened to revoke its role as the national accreditor for law schools because of its diversity standards.
The ABA has deferred implementation of its new policy until August 31, 2026.
The ABA Board of Governors includes 44 members who serve staggered three-year terms. The five DEI seats were created in 1986 as part of the associations effort to expand representation. Tuesday’s vote marks the first significant change to this standard in nearly four decades.
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