American Alliance for Equal Rights Sues American Bar Association for Racial Discrimination in Scholarship Program

ABA's Legal Opportunity Fund Excludes White Applicants

AUSTIN, Texas, April 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) filed a federal lawsuit against the American Bar Association (ABA) for operating a racially discriminatory scholarship program that unlawfully excludes white students. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Illinois, challenges the ABA's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund under 42 U.S.C. §1981, a federal statute that guarantees all individuals the right to make and enforce contracts regardless of race.

The complaint is attached.

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The Legal Opportunity Scholarship, which has operated for more than two decades, awards $15,000 to selected incoming law students. The ABA's stated eligibility requirements make clear that applicants must be members of specified racial or ethnic minority groups—including African-American, Native American, Hispanic, or Asian. White students are categorically ineligible to apply, regardless of financial need, academic achievement, or any other factor.

As noted in the complaint, every year, the ABA requires scholarship applicants to sign agreements and submit extensive documentation—personal statements, tax records, release forms—in exchange for a chance at financial support. The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, including a court order barring the ABA from considering race in the selection of scholarship recipients. It also requests nominal damages and an order reopening the application process using race-neutral criteria.

The complaint also details how the ABA's use of race in the scholarship is part of a broader pattern of polarizing race-conscious policies and programs, including accreditation standards, continuing legal education, judicial clerkship placements, and public statements opposing "race-blind" initiatives. Even after the Supreme Court's landmark 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard outlawing race-based admissions in higher education, the ABA continues to promote race-based policies and programs.

Edward Blum, president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, said, "The ABA's racially exclusive scholarship is illegal. The fact that America's largest lawyer membership organization is flagrantly discriminating against certain individuals because of their race is flabbergasting."

Blum continued, "The leadership of the ABA must certainly have been aware of the many lawsuits that have been filed successfully challenging race-exclusive law firm internship and fellowships programs. That the ABA hasn't ended their minority-only scholarship should distress the entire membership."

Blum added, "The goal of this lawsuit is not to eliminate ABA's scholarships but to ensure they are based on legitimate criteria, such as financial need or merit, rather than race. There are many deserving students from all races and ethnicities who need help affording law school. Excluding some of them because of their race is unfair and unconstitutional."

The American Alliance for Equal Rights is a nonprofit membership organization committed to defending civil rights and ensuring equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity.

American Alliance for Equal Rights
3571 Far West Blvd. Ste.17
Austin, Texas 78731
AmericanAllianceForEqualRights.org
703-505-1922
[email protected]

Contact:
Edward Blum
President, AAER
703-505-1922

SOURCE American Alliance for Equal Rights