1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

I’m writing about something that affects disabled people and the families who love them all across our state. On June 18, 2026, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion claiming that federal law never required states to serve disabled people in their communities rather than in institutions, and that the rule requiring it can be canceled. That rule is the integration mandate. It’s backed by the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, and it’s the floor under group homes, Medicaid waivers, and community living. Here’s what worries me. If this opinion becomes action, a state could place a disabled person in an institution and just say it ran out of community funding. Almost every state already has years-long waiting lists. That turns the most common problem our families face into a legal excuse to institutionalize.this needs to be stopped. Do something about it!