1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

The new DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion reinterpreting Olmstead v. LC is an attack on disabled people's right to live in their communities, and I need you to publicly oppose it and push back on this administration's dismantling of disability civil rights enforcement. As a teacher and a parent of a child with disabilities, I am watching this administration systematically strip away every support system that keeps kids like mine out of institutions and in classrooms. The Olmstead decision has been the law of the land since 1999. It established that segregating people with disabilities is discrimination, full stop. This new opinion, authored by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit, doesn't change the law, but experts warn it will gut how the DOJ and HHS actually enforce it. Combined with the gutting of the Department of Education and rampant ESA voucher fraud going unchecked, the message is unmistakable: disabled people will be left without support or locked away. Harmeet Dhillon has already redirected the Civil Rights Division away from protecting historically marginalized groups. This OLC opinion is the next step. Families like mine cannot absorb these losses. Speak out against this opinion and demand that Olmstead enforcement remain intact.