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 treating professional considers it appropriate, an individual wants it, and community services can reasonably be provided.
The OLC opinion also argued that these factors are relevant but do not necessarily exhaust the justifications states may offer for institutional care. It stressed that the Supreme Court had not conclusively resolved which justifications are legally permissible.
The practical implication of the OLC's interpretation is that it would give states greater latitude to maintain institutional care and narrow the legal basis for requiring states to expand or provide community-based alternatives.
The Catholic signatories to the letter described the OLC opinion as "deeply troubling" and urged Congress to "do everything in its power to affirm the rights of persons living with disabilities to flourish in their families and communities."
"Congress must act to protect the programs, policies, and resources that persons with disabilities and their families rely on to thrive," the letter stated.
The letter's signatories include Archbishop Shelton Fabre, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop Edward Burns, chair of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; Sister Mary Haddad, RSM, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States; Leo Zanchettin, board chair of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability; Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA; and Father Chris Kellerman, SJ, secretary of justice and ecology for the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
The leaders grounded their appeal in Catholic teaching on the dignity and rights of people with disabilities. The 1978 "Pastoral Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops on Persons with Disabilities" states that the Church's defense of the right to life "implies the defense of other rights that enable the disabled individual to achieve the fullest measure of personal development of which he or she is capable." These include equal opportunities in education, employment, and housing as well as access to public accommodations, facilities, and services.
With this in mind, "institutionalization should be a last resort because it deprives persons of these rights and opportunities while also stripping communities of the presence and participation of such persons," the letter declared.
The letter emphasized that parishes, schools, and social and health ministries across the country "are enriched and blessed by the opportunity to worship with, serve alongside, and learn from persons with disabilities."
The signatories of the letter said that the path forward begins with the family, "which Church teaching regards as essential for persons to flourish."
"In this vein, when the Supreme Court decided Olmstead in 1999, it recognized that most persons with disabilities can thrive with their families or in community-based settings, and that the government has an obligation to support them to the extent possible," the letter stated. "As a result, Catholic hospitals, charities, schools, ministries, and parishes across the country work with public services to ensure persons with disabilities and their families have the resources they need to live healthy, vibrant, and productive lives."
Therefore, the Catholic leaders called Olmstead v L.C. a "linchpin" of this system and warned that "without its civil rights framework, persons with disabilities, their families, and the community organizations that support them simply will not have access to the resources they need and deserve."
The signatories expressed support for members of Congress who have already called on the administration to rescind the OLC opinion and encouraged other lawmakers to join the effort.
"Congress should do everything in its power to protect persons living with disabilities — including reaffirming that the ADA requires states and local governments to provide services to persons with disabilities in their communities when appropriate," the letter stated.
