States aren't required to provide community-based care for people with disabilities, new DOJ opinion claims

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

June 18, 2026 / 6:21 PM EDT


The Justice Department released a new legal opinion Thursday that civil rights experts said represents a significant attack against people with mental, physical and intellectual disabilities who receive state-funded services.

The Office of Legal Counsel opinion said states are not actually required by law to integrate mentally disabled patients with their peers by providing community or home-based care, a finding experts say runs counter to long-standing legal precedent and would lead to greater rates of institutionalizing people with disabilities.

The OLC opinion, authored by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit and posted on the DOJ's website, reinterprets a long-standing Supreme Court case that has served as a cornerstone of America's disability rights law. That 1999 case, Olmstead v. LC, held that people with disabilities are entitled to receive services in their communities, rather than an institution.

"The Olmstead decision itself said that why community integration is so important is so children can be part of their families, so they can go to school, so people can be part of their communities," said Alison Barkoff, a former DOJ attorney who was in charge of supervising Olmstead civil rights enforcement and now works as a professor at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. "That's what's at stake with this re-interpretation of Olmstead."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-disability-opinion-community-care/

[Tim S]

1. EVERY life is sacred... except for those disabled or otherwise "othered"?

[2naSalit]

2. The cruelty is the point...

Never forget that part.

[NBachers]

3. Next step: Thr happy-painted party truck with the exhaust system fed into the back.

[mountain grammy]

7. Sure looks ominous

What could possibly be the reasoning behind this?

[FakeNoose]

4. Who asked the DoJ to make a new ruling on this?

This is total bullshit and goes against 50+ years of precedent.

[Delphinus]

6. Absolutely!

I cannot believe this.

Great question of who asked them to do this.

[GiqueCee]

5. This reeks...

... of the influence of Stephen Miller and Russell Vought, two of the vilest perversions of humanity ever spawned.

[duckworth969]

10. Yep

[Historic NY]

8. Back to warehousing in place of home based care

Institutions of old

[azureblue]

9. such fine Christians

Matthew 25: 41 - 46, Jesus speaks
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

11. They keep screaming, "we're not Nazis,..."

but they keep pushing Nazi policies. Every time I hear a MAGA say, "Well, I don't really like Trump, but I like his policies," well, these are his policies. No money for "useless eaters." Straight our of the Nazi playbook. Project 2025 is, at its heart, a Nazi program.

[delisen]

12. Remember, Congress never fully funded IDEA

This failure placed financial burdens on all public school systems and gave the opening to those already so inclined to attack education for disabled students . It also fueled resentment of children with disabilities.

Project 2025 has a strong eugenics component. When Trump ridiculed a disabled reporter during a political rally he was not just making a personal statement of contempt, he was deliberately messaging his base that he is for ending community services and protections for disabled people.

The next 4 years are the most critical for people who are considered disabled. It will be either full community services with liberty and justice for all or closed profit-making institutions.

[Buddyzbuddy]

13. Reverse Genetic Engineering.

No, you may not prevent this torment with an abortion. But we, of this Administration will be happy to assist in the torment of any disabled that are produced. Just for kicks and giggles, you understand.

Signed, S. Rat Face Miller!

They are such f*cking monsters.

G'damn every Dem who does not come after the billionaires and trillionaire money hard and fast. THEY ARE THE REASON.