The American Bar Association is no longer the primary or only accreditor of law schools in Florida, after a Florida Supreme Court ruling Thursday.
The 5-1 decision amends a rule that had formally made the American Bar Association the "sole accrediting agency for law schools."
The ruling comes a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis floated the idea of making the Florida Supreme Court the primary accreditor of law schools in Florida, calling the ABA biased and "left of the left."
"It's a very partisan left activist organization, and you know, they have a right to do that if that's what floats your boat, but they should not play a central role in legal education or the legal profession," DeSantis said.
The ABA refuted those claims and said it is a nonpartisan professional organization.
DeSantis wants Florida to follow Texas' lead. The Lone Star State last week appointed its Supreme Court as the primary accreditor of law schools in the state.
With the high court's ruling, Florida can now start reaching out to alternate accreditors starting October 1.
In a statement, the ABA says the ruling doesn't change anything, as it simply means "The Court acknowledges that other accreditors may also be recognized in the future, similar to the system currently in place in California."
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The ABA says it's the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions wing of the organization that accredits schools in the state, and that it acts separately and independently from the larger ABA.
"The Council has dedicated itself to quality legal education for over 100 years. The Council will continue to improve its Standards and promote the benefits of a national accreditation system for students, employers, law schools and the states themselves," read the statement.
DeSantis rolled out a new accreditor for higher education institutions in the state in June.
The Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) is a partnership between the State University System of Florida, and five other higher education bodies: the University System of Georgia, the University of North Carolina System, the University of South Carolina, the University of Tennessee System, and the Texas A&M University System.
Florida universities are primarily accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS), which is the accreditor for most of the South. DeSantis has also called the SACS biased.
Any new accreditors of universities, colleges, or law schools ultimately need to be approved by the U.S. Department of Education.
Read the full Supreme Court decision here:
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