In a comment (2.19.2006 12:00pm) on Prof. Bernstein’s most recent post on the ABA controversy, Duncan Frissell notes that this is not the first time the ABA has attempted to declare what it regards as “discriminatory actions by lawyers as unethical and subject to discipline.”
By way of example, he points to its Model Rules for Professional Conduct, which includes a rule against
[a] lawyer who, in the course of representing a client, knowingly manifests by words or conduct, bias or prejudice based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status….
By contrast, the ABA’s proposed Standard 211 would require law schools to produce a student body, faculty, and staff that is diverse only “with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”
Apparently the ABA believes that religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status have no bearing on the “diversity” they think relevant to legal education.
If proportionate representation is the gold standard for the correct amount of ‘diversity’ that an institution needs, Religion, Poverty, Age, Sexual Orientation, and Disability ought to be calculated for as well.
Except that even the PC-taliban would never tackle ‘religious diversity’ since it would require them to reduce the number of Jewish law students to about 2% or 3%.
Even they don’t have the balls to try that.