Nine U.S. states are challenging a Biden-era update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which allows disabled people the right to care in their own communities by requiring states to fund services “in the most integrated settings.”
The states, which include Texas, Montana, Florida, Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota — all of which are led by Republican governors — filed the lawsuit last week. It is the latest attack on Section 504, coming after a suit last year in which 17 states claimed that the entirety of the section is unconstitutional.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits entities that receive money from the federal government from discriminating about Disabled people; adoption of the rule was completed in 1977.
“This new lawsuit is a serious attack on one of the most important and hard-fought rights for people with disabilities — the right to live and participate in their own communities,” Alison Barkoff, a professor at George Washington University, told Disability Scoop.
The federal government updates the Section 504 rules over time. The government just finished updating the rules in 2024. Many disability advocates wrote to the government about what to put in the rules. The updated rules are stronger and have more examples about what disability discrimination is.
Several states withdrew that claim after the lawsuit prompted outrage from the disability community, but nine states have continued to push for a ruling on the Biden administration update.
If successful, the lawsuit could mean loss of funding for millions of disabled people across the country who rely on states to provide care for them in their own homes. The removal of the Biden-era protections would put disabled citizens at risk of being forced to receive care in institutions.
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