Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier accused the body in charge of accrediting law schools on Thursday of discriminating against Catholics.
In a three-page letter posted to social media, Uthmeier demanded the American Bar Association not “horsewhip” St. Thomas University, a Catholic law school in Miami that the ABA in August declared to be out-of-compliance with the association’s anti-discrimination and equal opportunity standards.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (via Department of Legal Affairs) “Admittedly, you currently have considerable power. But reform is in the air,” Uthmeier wrote, addressing St. Thomas University. “Your treatment of STU Law looks like religious discrimination under Florida civil rights law. Leave STU Law alone.”
He accused the ABA of engaging in “woke,” left-wing political activism, claiming the body “hates” religious values.
“It cannot use its accreditation monopoly to put law schools to the tortuous choice of accepting the ABA’s discriminatory, repugnant standards or suffering the fallout of withheld accreditation,” he continued.
The ABA is a national agency that serves as the primary accreditor for multiple states. In Florida, it’s been the sole accrediting body for law schools recognized in the state Supreme Court since 1992, according to the Florida Bar. Losing ABA accreditation would affect STU’s access to state bar exams and could impact the school’s legitimacy.
But the Florida Supreme Court in March created a workgroup to propose alternatives to the ABA in the Bar admissions process, partially because “reasonable questions” have arisen about the ABA’s accreditation standards on “racial and ethnic diversity in law schools and about the ABA’s active political engagement.”
This comes as the Texas Supreme Court announced its plan to end reliance on the ABA for law school oversight, and as Gov. Ron DeSantis moves to create a new accreditation system for state universities.
In August, the ABA found that St. Thomas fell out of compliance with an accreditation standard requiring law schools to not discriminate, to treat people equally and to be fair in hiring, admissions and retention, the ABA reported. That standard requires law schools to “provide the reasons—such as state or federal laws, other authorities, or university policy—which limit the inclusion of any specific group” during their accreditation review.
This follows notice the ABA’s notice in June alleging that St. Thomas Law fell out of compliance with another standard, which requires ABA-accredited law schools to “maintain a budget reflecting anticipated financial resources and expenses for the current and subsequent three fiscal years.”
The ABA also asked the law school to submit a report by Oct. 20 and appear before the ABA council at its February 2026 meeting. St. Thomas Law did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 87% of St. Thomas’ students taking the Bar for the first time passed the test in July 2025. This was above the state average of 82.8%.
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