More than a dozen states seek to invalidate one of the key laws of disability rights of the nation, defenders are warning, endangering access to medical care, education and more.
A lawsuit filed by Texas and another 16 states is asking for the end of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Law. The 1973 law prohibits discrimination based on disability in any entity that receives federal funds.
The suit known as Texas v. Becerra It was presented in response to an update of the regulations of section 504 that was completed by the Biden administration last year. With litigation, states seek to ensure that gender dysphoria do not qualify as disability under the rule. However, by challenging the regulations, the demand for the States asks the Court to «declare section 504, 29 USC § 794, unconstitutional» in its entirety.
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«If this happens, it would be a disaster for disabled people and everything, from education to employment, would be negatively affected,» said Maria Town, president and executive director of the American association of people with disabilities.
Section 504 has a wide range, which extends to medical care, public education, housing, transport and much more, the defenders say. While many students with disabilities are covered by the Education Law of individuals with disabilities, federal figures show that 3% of students receive only under section 504.
The last 504 regulations clarified that medical suppliers cannot make treatment -based treatment decisions .
If the court determined that section 504 is unconstitutional, disability defenders are concerned that the basis of said decision can also undermine other laws, including the law of Americans with disabilities.
«If the judge adopted it, and actually declares the unconstitutional statute, it could presage that other anti -discriminatory statutes based on race and sex and ethnicity are also unconstitutional for the same reason,» Steven Schwartz, main advisor to the center of the center . Public representation, he said during a recent web seminar. “And because there are provisions in the regulations that join, that link 504 and the ADA, and the prohibitions on the discrimination of race and sex, links them all with the way they apply. Hitting the rule could propel the ADA too.
Schwartz described that scenario as «simply scary.»
Now, the defenders of disability throughout the country are asking that states withdraw from litigation. And facing significant pressure, lawyers are distanced from the request for the demand to cancel section 504.
«The plaintiffs clarify that they have never moved, and do not plan Joint State Report The States presented to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Wednesday.
The general lawyers indicated that they continue to evaluate their position in the light of a recent executive order that President Donald Trump issued on gender ideology. But, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said the presentation is «a great step towards this demand descending and disappearing completely.»
The other states involved in demand are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Western Virginia.
The defenders are also waiting to listen to where the Trump administration is in the case.
«It is possible that Trump’s DOJ can decide to continue defending the statute and regs, only the statute or parties could eliminate the case,» said Alison Barkoff, professor at the George Washington University who led the department of health and humans of the USA. Administration of community life services under the Biden administration.
The Trump administration could also choose to address the concerns of the states about gender dysphoria when passing through the regulation process to change the regulation or simply update the preamble to the rule, which would not require any plane or comment period, he said Barkoff.
(Updated: February 20, 2025 at 4:05 pm et)
