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July 22, 2026 / 10:09 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Senate and House Democrats launched a congressional inquiry on Wednesday into a new controversial Justice Department legal opinion that would make it easier for states to keep people with mental illness institutionalized, rather than paying for them to receive community-based care.In a letter to Acting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the lawmakers asked the Justice Department to rescind the June opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel, and asked who was involved in drafting it, in addition to its author, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit."For more than 50 years, federal civil rights laws have recognized that unnecessary segregation and institutionalization constitute discrimination," they wrote to Blanche. "The consequences of weakening the integration mandate would be profound," they continued. "Millions of Americans with disabilities rely on home and community-based services supporting them to be among their families, maintain employment, pursue education, and participate in civic life."The letter was signed by 100 Democratic members of the Senate and House, among them, Sens. Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth, Bernie Sanders, Ron Wyden, Chuck Schumer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen. Democratic Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, Debbie Dingell and Lateefah Simon also signed the letter.The Office of Legal Counsel in June released a highly controversial legal opinion that civil rights experts told CBS News runs counter to longstanding legal precedent and would lead to greater rates of institutionalizing people with disabilities.The OLC found that states are not actually required by law to integrate mentally disabled patients with their peers by providing community or home-based care.
