Surprise, surprise, another ABA diversity loss. Right after SFFA v. Harvard, the timer started ticking against structural attempts to correct racial disparities in the legal profession. Rules like “Hey, we should make sure that underserved communities are aware of the opportunities we’re offering” or suggestions like “Maybe the profession shouldn’t look like a Hanson concert” became even more suspect than usual. The ABA tried to wiggle out of being sued for some of their pro-diversity, equity, and inclusion offerings by changing some of the wording, but they weren’t prepared to go to bat in the long run. They’ve recently settled a case about who is eligible for one of their scholarships. Law.com has coverage:
The American Bar Association has settled a lawsuit brought forth last year by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) over the ABA’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund (LOSF), agreeing to offer the scholarship on a “race/ethnicity-neutral” basis.
The ABA agreed to “refrain from including any eligibility requirement for LOSF based on particular group identities, including race or ethnicity,” according to the Joint Stipulation of Dismissal filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division on Monday.
The ABA also agreed to “apply the eligibility requirements for LOSF on a race/ethnicity-neutral basis” and to clarify that demographic information in the LOSF application is “solely for data-tracking purposes and will not be considered as part of the eligibility for the scholarship,” according to court records.
The LOSF is now reserved for first years “committed to enhancing the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the legal profession.” Great, now the money can go to the law school equivalent of this guy:
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Appeals to inclusion without a historical basis for why that inclusion matters are just excuses to parade mainstream dogma. There’s nothing particularly new or enhancing about Amy Wax platforming White supremacists or minimizing Asian and Black law students, but the discursive justification that she or FedSoc bros parroting PragerU talking points are “encouraging debate” or “promoting the free exchange of ideas” ignores that these ideas have been circulating for a very long time. Debates on if Black people are as intelligent as their White peers (“people” and “peers” are of course stretches of the historical imagination in this context) go back centuries — there’s a well-documented example of Thomas Jefferson shitting on an award-winning, formerly enslaved poet for only being capable of mimicry. What’s so novel about a professor evenhandedly assuming poorly of them despite the evidence to the contrary?
Will the next round of LOSF recipients include some equivalent of the student who sued his school over removing his Charlie Kirk flyers? Because if not, there will suits alleging that the scholarships discriminate against the real minority: conservative viewpoints. It is very popular for conservatives to argue that their viewpoints are in the minority and that their shoehorning Ayn Rand quotes in Con Law are the classroom discussions needed to balance out the overwhelming liberalism, even if the data shows that the nation skewed rightward in 2019, and stayed about the same in 2020. More up-to-date polling shows opinions are changing, but 1) they aren’t drastic changes and 2) it is naive to pretend that all the conservatives on speaking tours about how they’re being silenced comport with reality. Conservative viewpoints are always present in these classrooms — they’re the damn case book.
Whoever gets the money, I hope they actually need it. Double points if they aren’t some grifter.
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ABA Settles Lawsuit Over Diversity Scholarship [Law.com]
Earlier: ABA Diversity And Inclusion Standard Looks Like It’s On Its Last Legs
Law Professors Argue Abandoning The Diversity Rule Will Hurt The ABA’s Reputation
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.