Image description: President Trump seen to be signing an official document, and he is wearing a dark blue suit.
Last Friday, the Department of Justice published a legal opinion that would threaten one of the most significant civil rights protections for disabled Americans if used to impact legislation, stirring fear among the disabled community.
The memo attacks the Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling in Olmstead v. L.C., a landmark case that established that disabled people cannot be forced to live in institutions if they can safely access support and services in their community. These services, such as in-home caregiving and nursing, currently allow nearly 8.4 million Americans to live at home rather than in institutional settings.
Olmstead was brought by two women with intellectual and mental health disabilities, Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, who were living in a state-run institution in Georgia. Although their treatment professionals determined that both women could receive care in community-based programs, the state kept them institutionalized. Deciding in their favor, the Supreme Court also ruled that unnecessary institutionalization constitutes discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
This legal opinion does not change the law. The ADA, Section 504, and the Olmstead decision remain in place, and courts must still abide by their precedents. However, legal experts warn that the federal government may be moving to undermine one of the strongest protections disabled people have against being pushed into institutions when they can — and want to — live in their communities.
“We are incredibly concerned that the message coming from the federal government in this memo is, ‘It’s fine to go back to the days that people were placed in institutions,’ even though they can be served in the community…even though it’s more cost-effective,” said Alison Barkoff, a health law and policy professor at George Washington University who led disability law and policy efforts during both the Obama and Biden administrations, in an interview with NPR.
This is only one of the latest moves from the administration signaling its intent to legislate disabled people out of public life. Last spring, 17 states filed Texas v. Kennedy, arguing that the integration mandate itself is unconstitutional — a case that continues today with six remaining states.
“As America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, [this memo] threatens to drag our nation back to a dark and shameful era of ignorance and cruelty,” the American Association of People with Disabilities said in an official statement. “This interpretation will open the doors for states to revert to warehousing people with disabilities out of sight and out of mind in institutions.”
The Justice Department did not respond to Cripple Media’s request for comment on its position or why it is departing from decades of bipartisan support for community services.
The immediate impact of the memo remains unclear. Yesterday, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) introduced a resolution calling for it to be rescinded, co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), among others, according to Mother Jones.
“We cannot be a leader of the free world if we continue to segregate groups of people in our own country, whether it is through racism or through ableism,” said Duckworth in an interview with Mother Jones. “They underestimate the willpower of the disability community.”
