1. United States
2. Kan.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to withdraw from the lawsuit filed on January 23, 2026, challenging Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the integration mandate. This legal action threatens the fundamental right of people with disabilities to live and participate in their communities rather than being forced into institutions. The integration mandate has been settled law since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. This principle, upheld for over 25 years, ensures that people with disabilities can receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The HHS rule your office is challenging simply requires state and local governments and entities receiving HHS funding to comply with this established right and prevents actions that place disabled people at serious risk of unnecessary institutionalization. This lawsuit seeks to declare the entire Section 504 rule unlawful and stop HHS from enforcing protections that keep people with disabilities out of institutions. If successful, this challenge would make it significantly harder for disabled individuals to enforce their right to community living, potentially forcing people into institutional settings when they could and want to live independently in the community instead. The earlier version of this lawsuit, Texas v. Kennedy, included a direct challenge to Section 504 itself as unconstitutional. After significant outrage from the disability community, that claim was withdrawn. This revised lawsuit continues the attack on disability rights through a different avenue, but the harm remains the same. People with disabilities deserve the same freedom to live in their communities as everyone else. Institutionalization is more expensive, more restrictive, and denies people with disabilities the opportunity to participate fully in society. I strongly urge you to withdraw from this lawsuit and instead work to strengthen community-based services that allow all people with disabilities to live with dignity and independence.