A conservative organization has filed a lawsuit against the American Bar Association (ABA), accusing the group of racial discrimination in its scholarship program designed to support law students from minority backgrounds.
The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), led by Edward Blum, a well-known opponent of affirmative action, claims the ABA’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship unfairly excludes white applicants.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Illinois, challenges the ABA’s 25-year-old scholarship program, which awards $15,000 annually to about 20 to 25 incoming law students from specified racial or ethnic minority groups, including African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian students.
According to the complaint, white students are categorically barred from applying, regardless of their financial need or academic merit.
Edward Blum stated that the lawsuit’s purpose is not to eliminate the scholarships but to ensure they are awarded based on fair criteria such as financial need or merit, rather than race.
He criticized the ABA for continuing to operate a race-exclusive program despite recent legal challenges to similar policies in law firms and educational institutions.
The ABA declined to comment directly on the lawsuit but reaffirmed its commitment to promoting diversity and eliminating bias within the legal profession. The association emphasized that any changes to its programs would continue to support equal participation for all individuals in the justice system.
This legal action is part of a broader movement against race-conscious policies in the legal field. Blum’s previous efforts contributed to the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned affirmative action in college admissions.
In 2024, the AAER also sued several law firms over their diversity fellowship programs but later dropped those cases after the firms revised their application criteria.
In a related development, the ABA recently revised its Judicial Clerkship Program to remove references to minority students and communities of color. This change followed a complaint from another conservative group alleging that the ABA’s use of racial quotas violated federal law.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to stop the ABA from using race as a factor in awarding scholarships and to require the reopening of the application process with race-neutral criteria.
It also requests nominal damages for the plaintiff, an unnamed white male applicant who would have applied for the scholarship if eligible.
This case highlights ongoing tensions over diversity initiatives in the legal profession and raises questions about how organizations balance efforts to promote inclusion with legal standards on race-based policies.
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