Reject the DOJ Memo Gutting Olmstead Protections for Disabled Americans

The Justice Department's new Office of Legal Counsel memo, authored by Lanora Pettit, must be repudiated — and you need to act now. The memo rewrites Olmstead v. L.C., the 1999 Supreme Court ruling that established states must integrate disabled Americans into their communities, not warehouse them in institutions. The DOJ's own memo admits this reading is "out of step with the common understanding of that decision within the federal courts." That's not a legal argument — that's a confession. This isn't abstract. By 2023, 8.4 million Americans relied on home- and community-based services through Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has already slashed Medicaid funding. Now this memo hands cash-strapped states legal cover to cut those services and resume institutionalizing disabled people. The administration has explicitly framed institutionalization as a homelessness solution — a claim disability advocates and legal experts flatly reject. The DOJ is also now siding with Texas in Texas v. Kennedy, a direct attack on the integration mandate. Congress must push back. Demand the DOJ rescind this memo, oppose any legislation that weakens Section 504 or Title II of the ADA, and block Medicaid cuts that make community-based care impossible. The law has not changed — only the administration's willingness to enforce it. That is a political choice, and you have the power to challenge it.