House of Delegates Resolutions

The ABA's policymaking body convened Feb. 5 at the Midyear Meeting in Louisville to debate and vote on a wide range of policy issues.

Resolution 177C (w/video)
Adopted  
Amends annual general member dues rates effective September 1, 2024.

Resolution 300 (w/video)
Adopted
Concurs in the action of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in the creation of Standard 208 (Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression) dated February 2024 in the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

Resolution 301
Adopted
Concurs in the action of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in making amendments dated February 2024 to Definition 15 (Probation); Standards 202 (Resources for Program), 311 (Academic Program and Academic Calendar), 313 (Degree Programs in Addition  to  J.D.),  502  (Educational  Requirements),  509  (Required Disclosures), and 510 (Student Complaints Implicating Compliance with the Standards); and Rules 2 (Council Responsibility and Authority), 9 (Notice of Accreditation Decision by Other Agency), 10 (Failure to Provide Information or  Cooperate  with  the  Gathering  of  Information),  13  (Actions  on Determination of Noncompliance with a Standard), 15 (: Sanctions for Noncompliance with a Standard), 16 (Sanctions for Failure to Cure Noncompliance with a Standard), 17 (Monitoring and Enforcing Compliance with Sanctions), 19 (Attendance at Council Meetings and Hearings), 20 (Hearings before the Council), 50 (Disclosure of Decision Letters), and 51 (Applications, Plans, Decisions and Recommendations Made Public) of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

Resolution 302
Adopted
Concurs in the action of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in making amendments dated February 2024 to Standards 601 (General Provisions), 602 (Law Library Services), 603 (Law Library Personnel), 604 (Law Library Collection), 605 (Administration of the Law Library), 701 (General Requirements), and 702 (Facilities) of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.
 
Resolution 303
Adopted
Concurs in the action of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in making amendments dated February 2024 to Definitions 1 (Additional Location), 3 (Branch Campus), and 18 (Separate Location); Standards 102 (Provisional Approval), 105 (Acquiescence for Substantive Change in Program or Structure), 106 (Separate Locations and Branch  Campuses)  and  306  (Distance  Education);  and  Rules  19 (Attendance at Council Meetings and Hearings), 20 (Hearings before the Council), 24 (Application for Acquiescence in a Substantive Change), 25 (Substantive Changes Requiring a Reliable Plan), 29 (Teach-Out Plan), and 47 (Confidentiality and Accreditation Matters) of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

Resolution 400
Withdrawn
Urges Congress to enact legislation to: (i)extend all civil rights laws applicable to public employees to all federal judicial branch employees; and
(ii) confer comparable employment benefits provided to employees of the federal legislative and executive branches to all federal judicial branch employees.

Resolution 401
Adopted as Revised
Urges that the American Bar Association supports the principles that: (i) the supreme court or other court of last resort of the United States territories serves as the final arbiter of its respective territorial laws; and (ii) each territory’s laws are not laws of the United States, and that actions arising under such territory’s laws do not establish federal-question jurisdiction.

Resolution 402 (w/video)
Adopted
Endorses the Summary of Recommendations and Guidance from the Report and Recommendations of the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Advancing Diversity dated September 2023.

Resolution 403 (w/video)
Adopted
Condemns gender apartheid, which means inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over any other gender group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.

Resolution 500 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges lawyers and all interested parties to increase the informed and voluntary use of Early Dispute Resolution: party-directed, non-adjudicative approaches to resolve disputes in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner, including, but not limited to, direct negotiation, mediation, and ombuds.

Resolution 501 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges state, local, territorial, and tribal officials to adhere to the ABA Criminal Justice Standards for the Prosecution Function (4th ed. 2017), and to ensure that efforts to address alleged prosecutorial misconduct are governed by written standards that provide reasonable notice as to what conduct is proscribed or prohibited and afford due process before a fair and impartial tribunal.

Resolution 502 (w/video)
Adopted as Revised
Urges national governments, the U.S. Congress and U.S. federal agencies, to: (i) prioritize and invest in the development and use of methods that replace the use of animals in research and testing; and (ii) remove barriers to, and create incentives for, the use of non-animal research and testing methods in regulatory test and federally sponsored research.

Resolution 503
Adopted
Urges the United States and other countries to take measures to address prevent, remedy, and punish human rights violations and prevent and punish genocide against the Rohingya.

Resolution 504 (w/video)
Adopted as Revised
Urges Congress to enact legislation that amends the PROTECT Act to require the Department of Justice to appoint an officer to act as the national Tribal coordinator of the AMBER Alert communications network regarding Alaska Natives and American Indians above the age of 18 reported by Tribes as missing, abducted, or imminently in danger; and urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to ensure that their AMBER Alert systems also apply to Alaska Natives and American Indians above the age of 18 reported missing, abducted, or imminently in danger

Resolution 505 (w/video)
Adopted
Opposes all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislation, regulations, ordinances, and policies that restrict the teaching and inclusion of studies as well access to and the use of instructional materials, books or resources in schools or school libraries, on the experiences, roles, and contributions of any individual or group on the basis of their sex, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, culture, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status.

Resolution 506 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions to fully implement and timely report all deaths required to be reported by the Death in Custody Reporting Act and ensure that there is an independent investigation into the cause of any death that occurs in a correctional institution or in the custody of law enforcement; and urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Justice to include, on the U.S. Standard Death Certificate, a box to check when death occurred in a correctional institution or in the custody of law enforcement.

Resolution 507 (w/video)
Adopted as Revised
Opposes federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislation, regulations, administrative interpretations, and litigation based thereon, that restrict the right of any healthcare provider or hospital that receives Medicare funding to provide patients with care, including abortion, to address emergency medical conditions; and supports federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislation, regulations, administrative interpretations, and litigation based thereon, that protect: 1) the right of any healthcare provider or hospital that receives Medicare funding to provide patients with care, including abortion, to address emergency medical conditions, and 2) the rights of patients and the requirement for patients to receive stabilizing treatment, including termination  of  a  pregnancy,  for  emergency  medical  conditions,  in compliance with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

Resolution 508 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges all state, local, territorial, and tribal governing bodies, education officials, school boards, and school districts to establish and implement policies that recognize that all students, including transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary students, have a reasonable and protected expectation of privacy when determining how and with whom to share information about their gender identity; and opposes parental notification requirements related to a student’s gender identity and urges policymakers to promote and safeguard the rights of all students to learn in a safe environment.

Resolution 509 (w/video)
Adopted
Opposes the use of spyware for the purposes of enabling and committing human rights abuses; urges a moratorium on and urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact laws to restrict the sale, purchase, transfer, servicing, and use of “abusive commercial spyware”; urges the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue to add to the Entity List companies that furnish abusive commercial spyware; and urges platform providers to develop safeguards to prevent abusive commercial spyware attacks, protocols to detect abusive commercial spyware attacks and to announce and correct system flaws, and policies to promptly notify the victims of abusive commercial spyware attacks.

Resolution 510 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges ABA-approved law schools to consider Tribal Membership in holistic application review processes, acknowledging Tribal membership as a political status determined by Tribal Nations.

Resolution 511 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges all law schools to consider expanding their programs of legal education to include part-time law programs.

Resolution 512 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges all legal employers to continue to consider diversifying their workforces by providing individuals from diverse backgrounds of race, gender, national origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression opportunities to participate in recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of lawyers in all practice settings.

Resolution 600
Adopted
Reaccredits the DUI Defense Law program of the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. and the Child Welfare Law Specialist Certification program of the National Association of Counsel For Children as designated specialty certification programs for lawyers for an additional five-year term; and extends the accreditation period of the Legal Liability Law program of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys of Atlanta, Georgia as a designated specialty certification program for lawyers until the adjournment of the next meeting of the American Bar Association House of Delegates in August 2024.

Resolution 601
Adopted
Grants reapproval to 14 paralegal education programs, withdraws the approval of one program at the request of the institution, and extends the term of approval of 45 programs.

Resolution 602
Adopted
Amends various Principles in the Principles for Juries and Jury Trials, as outlined in the Resolution.

Resolution 603 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges Congress to pass the Disarm Hate Act or similar legislation that would amend 18 U.S.C. Sections 922(d) and (g) of the Gun Control Act of 1968; and urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments to pass legislation allowing individuals to petition courts to grant extreme risk protective orders.

Resolution 604 (w/video)
Adopted
Urges Congress to pass legislation to establish a President’s Award for Civic Engagement (PACE) to reward and recognize students in grades 5 through 12 who display outstanding civic leadership and leadership in their communities; and urges the U.S. Department of Education to establish national criteria for this award.

Resolution 605
Adopted
Urges Congress and the Administration to enact laws and adopt policies to protect Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) youth, including youth of color, through the years-long adjudication process of the SIJS petition and SIJS-based adjustment of status application to lawful permanent residence.

Resolution 700
Adopted
Approves the Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in July 2023 as an appropriate Act for those states desiring to adopt the specific substantive law suggested therein.

Resolution 701
Adopted
Approves the Uniform Special Deposits Act as promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in July 2023 as an appropriate Act for those states desiring to adopt the specific substantive law suggested therein.

Resolution 702
Adopted
Approves the Uniform Unlawful Restrictions in Land Records Act, promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, as an appropriate Act for those states desiring to adopt the specific substantive law suggested therein.

Resolution 703 (w/video)
Adopted
Approves the Uniform Collaborative Law Rules and Uniform Collaborative Law Act, promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2010, as appropriate Rules or an appropriate Act for those states desiring to adopt the specific substantive law suggested therein.