The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a notice today declaring that its long-standing Olmstead Guidance on the integration mandate and the Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision should not be enforced because it is “not enforceable.” The Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. ruling found that people with disabilities generally have a right to receive services in integrated, community-based settings rather than institutions where possible.

In a 2011 Question and Answer Document that was later updated in 2020, the DOJ outlined how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) integration mandate would be applied and enforced. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s notice states the DOJ won’t rely on the guidance going forward, and says other DOJ guidance built on it is likewise non-binding. The agency also said it intends to reassess the guidance under the 2024 Loper Bright Supreme Court decision, which changed how courts weigh an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous laws.

The move follows a June memo from DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel arguing that neither the ADA nor Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requires states to serve people with disabilities in home and community settings, a position that breaks from decades of legal consensus. Disability rights advocates argue the guidance reflected broad judicial consensus and warn that states abandoning integration efforts based on DOJ’s new stance could still be found liable in court. Advocates maintain the shift is creating confusion while eroding hard-won protections for people with disabilities to live in their own homes and communities