The press release is here. The petition alleges that the ABA violated at least six provisions of the 1996 antitrust consent decree, which was otherwise scheduled to expire on June 25th, and was filed along with a stipulation and proposed order in which the ABA acknowledges these violations and agrees to pay $185,000 in fees and costs.
The ABA conspiracy has been the subject of posts from each of the TOTM bloggers. Here are previous entries on the topic by me (and David Zaring), Geoff, Keith, and Thom. My colleague David Bernstein also recently reported on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Hearing on ABA Standard 211, which would require law schools to adopt racial preferences in their admission decisions or risk accreditation, and the possibility that the ABA’s accreditation privilege might be held up by the Department of Education over concerns regarding Standard 211. In light of the ABA’s recent troubles, one has to wonder whether the consent decree will expire as previously scheduled.