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Professor Bernstein Criticizes Proposed ABA Standard on Diversity

In a recent op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Professor David E. Bernstein denounces the American Bar Association's Council of the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar for proposing a new standard on "Equal Opportunity and Diversity" that would require racial preferences in admissions and faculty hiring policies.

Affirmative Blackmail, The Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2006. By David E. Bernstein.

Excerpt:

According to its mission statement, a primary goal of the American Bar Association is to "promote respect for the law." In the interest of mandating racial preferences in admissions, however, the ABA is about to order law schools to do just the opposite — in fact, to violate the law — and is resorting to blackmail to achieve its end.

Meeting in Chicago today, the ABA's Council of the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar will vote on new "equal opportunity and diversity" standards. If they are approved, any law school that seeks to maintain or acquire ABA accreditation will be required to engage in racial preferences in hiring and admissions, regardless of any federal, state or local laws that prohibit of such policies.

The new Standard 211, styled "Equal Opportunity and Diversity," would govern admissions and faculty hiring policies. It says nothing about treating people from different groups equally, and lots about "diversity" -- a code word for affirmative action preferences.

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