“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’s new opinion does not change the law, nor does it serve as any legal precedent.
But it could fundamentally change the way both the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services enforce allegations of discrimination by patients who received state-funded care.
“For decades, courts have recognized that people with disabilities have the right to live, work, and learn in their communities rather than being unnecessarily segregated from society,” said Regan Rush, a former civil rights attorney at the DOJ who now serves as director of a Democracy Forward project called Red Line for Civil Rights. “This opinion does not change the law, but it is a clear warning shot aimed at the legal framework that has protected those rights for decades and at the Department’s longstanding role in enforcing it.”
States not required to give community-based care for those with disabilities: DOJ opinion