Bet Tzedek Legal Services strongly condemns the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel’s recent memorandum attempting to narrow the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel. Zimring, 527 U.S. 581 (1999). The Department cannot unilaterally change existing and well-settled law and the law protecting people living with disabilities still stands.
For 27 years, Olmstead has stood for powerful principle: people with disabilities have the right to live in their communities and not be unnecessarily segregated in institutions. The DOJ’s new interpretation seeks to undo that promise by recasting community integration not as a civil right, but as a discretionary policy choice.
The Department’s memo asserts that federal disability laws do not impose a meaningful obligation on states to provide services in the most integrated setting, and that institutionalization is permissible so long as it can be “justified.” This reading ignores both the letter and the spirit of Olmstead, which recognized that unjustified isolation is itself a form of discrimination.
By minimizing the integration mandate, the DOJ risks reviving the very harms that Congress and the courts sought to eliminate: segregation, isolation, and the unnecessary institutionalization of people living with disabilities.
At Bet Tzedek, we see every day what is at stake when the promise of Olmstead is weakened. Our clients are older adults, caregivers, and people living with disabilities who are fighting to remain safely in their homes, close to family, neighbors, and the communities that sustain them. Through our work, we assist families navigating complex benefit systems; secure access to in‑home supportive services; and help families understand the full scope of legal resources available, from supported decision-making tools to conservatorships, so that they can help their loved ones age with dignity, autonomy and stability. These legal supports are not optional conveniences. They are the difference between a thriving community life and unnecessary institutionalization. However, these legal supports depend on Olmstead for the guiding principle of keeping individuals in their homes and communities.
Our clients consistently tell us the same thing: they want to stay in their homes, connected to their families, neighbors, and communities. When appropriate services are available, they can do so safely. But when those services are denied, delayed or underfunded, institutionalization often becomes the only option, not because it is best for the individual, the family or the community, but because the system has failed to provide the support that the law requires.
The DOJ’s position disregards this reality. By suggesting that institutional care is broadly “justifiable” based on resource constraints or policy choices, the memo appears to give states cover to scale back community-based services. That approach is not only inconsistent with decades of disability rights law — it is also contrary to sound public policy. Community-based care is widely recognized as more humane, more cost-effective, and more responsive to individual needs.
This interpretation could undermine enforcement efforts that have expanded access to home- and community-based services across the country. For years, federal enforcement of Olmstead has helped states build the infrastructure necessary to support people outside of institutions. Weakening that framework would reverse hard-won progress.
At its core, this debate is about dignity, autonomy, and equal access. Disability rights are civil rights. The ability to live in one’s home, to remain part of a community, and to avoid unnecessary institutionalization should not depend on shifting legal interpretations or administrative priorities.
Bet Tzedek calls on the Department of Justice to reverse course and reaffirm its longstanding commitment to the integration mandate. We also urge policymakers at every level to invest in the caregiver workforce and in-home services that make community living possible.
We will continue to stand with our clients and partners to defend the promise of Olmstead: that all people, regardless of disability, have the opportunity to live with dignity in the settings they call home.
