Skrmetti warns American Bar Association over new diversity and inclusion rules for law schools

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a coalition of Republican attorneys general warning about consideration of race in the law school admissions process. / Tennessee Lookout Photo by John Partipilo Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a coalition of Republican attorneys general warning about consideration of race in the law school admissions process. / Tennessee Lookout Photo by John Partipilo

By Anita Wadhwani / Tennessee Lookout June 7, 2024 3 min read

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a coalition of 21 Republican states in issuing a warning to the American Bar Association against requiring law schools to consider race in hiring and admissions.

In a letter sent Monday, Skrmetti cautioned the association that its proposed changes to standards for all accredited U.S. law schools run afoul of a Supreme Court decision last year barring colleges and universities from race-based affirmative action practices.

It’s at least the third legal warning Skrmetti has issued from Tennessee to national organizations since the landmark June 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which found the school’s considerations of race in student admissions unconstitutional.

In January, Skrmetti led a coalition of 19 GOP states in challenging the U.S. Department of Commerce’s so-called “best practice” policies that sought to increase “diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.”