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Advocates are concerned that the memo presages a White House effort to ramp up institutionalization.<\/span>Aaron Schwartz\/CNP\/Zuma<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Thursday, <\/span>the Department of Justice quietly released a memo<\/a> pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C.<\/em>, which curtailed states\u2019 power to institutionalize people diagnosed with mental illnesses, and related federal civil rights laws. That precedent, the Trump administration memo argues\u2014in conjunction with federal civil rights and disability rights statutes\u2014increases homelessness, a claim that likely signals a push to expand institutionalization in restrictive psychiatric facilities.<\/p>\n The administration\u2019s claims, according to University of Michigan law professor Sam Bagenstos, are not rooted in fact.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just absurd,\u201d 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<\/em> decision \u201cone of the most effective tools in combating homelessness\u201d by encouraging states to augment mental health and housing services outside institutions.<\/p>\n More concerning is the fact that the White House instructed the Justice Department to produce the document, which Bagenstos says \u201csuggests we might potentially be seeing an executive order\u201d directing DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services to roll back rules meant to avoid institutionalization.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration is trying to take away one of the most fundamental rights that people with disabilities have fought for,\u201d said George Washington University law professor Alison Barkoff. <\/p>\n In December, for instance, the Department of Justice reached an<\/a> agreement with South Carolina to expand supportive services for people with psychiatric disabilities to reduce rates of institutionalization.<\/p>\n Bagenstos describes the White House move as \u201cpart of the incredibly punitive approach <\/a>toward homelessness and mental illness<\/a> that Trump has taken from the beginning of his administration,\u201d including a July executive order that called for unhoused people with mental health conditions to be forced into long-term care<\/a> settings in contravention of Olmstead<\/em> and disability civil rights laws.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir interpretation is completely inconsistent with virtually all courts,\u201d says Barkoff, a DOJ special counsel on Olmstead enforcement during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n Barkoff and Bagenstos are both concerned that the memo presages a White House effort to ramp up institutionalization\u2014one that could, ironically, also increase homelessness\u2014by chipping at the Olmstead<\/em> legal framework. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans for Olmstead<\/em> enforcement, or lack thereof.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n