ABA sued over diversity scholarships by conservative group
April 14 (Reuters) - A prominent conservative group sued the American Bar Association on Saturday, alleging that a scholarship program meant to boost the number of racially and ethnically diverse law students is discriminatory.
In a complaint, opens new tab filed in an Illinois federal court, the American Alliance for Equal Rights — led by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum — alleged that the ABA's 25-year-old Legal Opportunity Scholarship discriminates against white applicants because they are ineligible to apply.
'The goal of this lawsuit is not to eliminate ABA's scholarships but to ensure they are based on legitimate criteria, such as financial need or merit, rather than race,' Blum said in an announcement of the lawsuit.
An ABA spokesperson declined to comment on Monday about the Alliance's lawsuit. But the organization said in a Monday statement that it 'remains dedicated to eliminating bias and enhancing diversity and promoting full and equal participation in the justice system, the association, and the legal profession by all persons.' Updates to the ABA's programs will remain consistent with those goals and will ensure all members who share these objectives have an opportunity to participate, the statement said.
The ABA is the nation's largest voluntary bar association, with about 150,000 dues-paying members.
The Alliance said it is representing an unnamed white male law school applicant who would apply for the $15,000 Legal Opportunity Scholarship were he eligible. The ABA awards between 20 and 25 such scholarships annually to incoming law students, according to its website.
The Alliance's lawsuit comes amid a wider push against diversity and inclusion efforts in the legal profession and beyond. A different group founded by Blum brought the case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ban on affirmative action in college and university admissions. The Alliance in 2024 sued law firms Winston & Strawn, Perkins Coie, and Morrison & Foerster over their diversity fellowship programs. Blum later dropped all three lawsuits after the firms altered their application criteria.
The ABA in October revised the criteria for its Judicial Clerkship Program, which encourages judges to hire diverse law clerks, to eliminate references to minority students and 'communities of color.' The ABA made that change after a different conservative legal group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, filed a complaint against the ABA with the U.S. Department of Education in May 2024 and threatened further legal action, alleging that the ABA was illegally discriminating by using racial quotas.
Affirmative action opponent drops case over Winston & Strawn's diversity fellowship
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