Defending Education Submits Public Comment to American Bar Association on Intended Repeal of Standard 303(c)

On July 6, 2026, Defending Education submitted a comment to Council of the Section of legal education and Admissions to the bar of the American Bar Association (ABA) supporting the repeal of standard 303(c). That standard mandates law school instruction on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism at two points in a student’s legal education. 

The ABA has proposed folding a “communicating effectively across differences” skill into a separate standard — 302 — focused on “learning outcomes,” but the language for that standard has yet to be drafted. 

DE’s comment focuses on the legally suspect nature of standard 303(c), identifies its status as a vehicle to push divisive ideologies and mandate curriculum, and supports its repeal. The comment also illustrates how the standard has operated in practice at law schools across the country. It urges the ABA not to re-package race-based or ideologically prescriptive framework under standard 302, leave the substance of training to each schools discretion, and not to weaponize its status as a federally recognized accreditor to advance its own preferred orthodoxy. 

---