The ABA Standards Review Committee voted to maintain the current standard after a coalition of bar associations of color, law teachers, clinicians, members of Congress, and the National Black Law Students Association drew attention to the absence of any analysis of discriminatory effects on law schools that enroll a diverse student population, including historically black colleges and universities, and national law schools.
Members of the coalition argued the proposal would create an incentive for law schools to admit only students with high law school admission test scores, and disadvantage students with low scores but other strong admission factors.
The proposal will advance to the ABA Council on March 14-15, 2014, which will determine whether to accept the Committee’s recommendation to maintain the current standard.