Catholic leaders call on Congress to protect disability rights after DOJ legal shift

Catholic leaders are urging the U.S. Congress to defend disability rights, warning that a new Justice Department (DOJ) legal interpretation could threaten community-based care and increase the risk of unnecessary institutionalization.

In a Oct. 14 letter , six Catholic leaders expressed concern over a June 18 legal opinion in which the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) reversed its long-standing interpretation of Olmstead v. L.C.

Olmstead v L.C. is a 1999 Supreme Court decision that ruled that unjustified institutional isolation of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In its June opinion , the OLC said that neither Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) nor Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act imposes a general legal obligation on states to provide services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

The OLC also said that the Supreme Court’s decision did not establish the broad integration mandate that the DOJ and most federal courts had understood it to require, and that the ADA does not require community placement whenever a…