On Thursday, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C., which curtailed states' power to institutionalize people diagnosed with mental illnesses, and related federal civil rights laws. That precedent, the Trump administration memo argues—in conjunction with federal civil rights and disability rights statutes—increases homelessness, a claim that likely signals a push to expand institutionalization in restrictive psychiatric facilities.
The administration's claims, according to University of Michigan law professor Sam Bagenstos, are not rooted in fact.
"It's just absurd," says Bagenstos, general counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget during the Biden administration, calling the Olmstead decision "one of the most effective tools in combating homelessness" by encouraging states to augment mental health and housing services outside institutions.
More concerning is the fact that the White House instructed the Justice Department to produce the document, which Bagenstos says "suggests we might potentially be seeing an executive order" directing DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services to roll back rules meant to avoid institutionalization. The memo, however, does not change laws itself.
