1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Defend the Olmstead decision. The Trump DOJ quietly released a memo attacking the landmark 1999 Supreme Court ruling that protects people with psychiatric disabilities from forced institutionalization — and you need to push back against any executive action that follows from it. Legal experts are calling the administration's core argument — that Olmstead increases homelessness — "just absurd." University of Michigan law professor Sam Bagenstos, former HHS general counsel, describes Olmstead as "one of the most effective tools in combating homelessness" because it pushes states to build real community-based mental health and housing services. George Washington University law professor Alison Barkoff, who enforced Olmstead at DOJ under Obama, put it plainly: "This administration is trying to take away one of the most fundamental rights that people with disabilities have fought for." The administration's reading of the law is also, in her words, "completely inconsistent with virtually all courts." This memo doesn't change law on its own, but it signals a coming executive order that could gut federal rules against institutionalization and put agreements like the DOJ's December settlement with South Carolina at risk. Forcing people into restrictive psychiatric facilities isn't a mental health policy — it's a civil rights violation. Speak out against this memo and commit to blocking any rollback of Olmstead protections.