I played a modest part in trying to avert the ABA’s collapse, a topic I had not discussed before but now choose to share.
My latest column in Civitas Outlook previews the closing chapters of the American Bar Association. The once-dominant organization is entering its final phase.
When the history of the American Bar Association’s downfall is written, one recurring theme will emerge: it didn’t have to end this way. By the 1960s, nearly half of the lawyers in the United States were members of the ABA. Congress, Presidents, and the courts consulted the ABA closely as a trusted advisor on all legal matters. Yet, tragically, that trust was squandered when the ABA was captured by the left. Instead of serving as a trade group for lawyers, the ABA became just another left-wing advocacy group. As membership declined, the ABA could have arrested its progressive lurch, but instead accelerated in the wrong direction. The group took liberal positions on abortion, affirmative action, national security, and other controversial issues that had nothing to do with the legal profession. The ABA stopped being relevant decades ago. All that is left is a hollow husk of a once-great entity. Now, the Trump Administration is poised to strike the mortal blow by eliminating the ABA Education Council’s power over law school accreditation. Things didn’t have to end this way, but the ABA brought this endgame onto itself.
I also relay my own personal role in this process, which I had only partly made public before.
