A proposed revision in the American Bar Association's accrediting standards for law schools is coming under fire from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which says the proposal seems to require the schools to use racial preferences in hiring and admissions despite federal and state laws limiting such policies. Although a bar-association official denies such an intent, conservative groups opposed to racial preferences are threatening to sue the bar association if it adopts the proposal. The announcement of possible litigation comes in the wake of a contentious commission meeting to discuss the proposal and may signal the next phase of the debate over affirmative action in higher education.