In the 1999 Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C., Justice Kennedy wrote in his concurrence, "It is careful, and quite correct, to say that it is not 'the ADA's mission to drive States to move institutionalized patients to an inappropriate setting, such as a homeless shelter.'" 

Yet as the Cicero Institute points out, that's exactly what has happened over the last 20 years.

In fact, it was Justice Department policy to sue states to discharge mentally ill patients from institutions under Olmstead.

On July 13, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon issued a directive putting an end to this practice.

Here's what that directive says:

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The Department of Justice (the Department) is issuing this document to clarify that the guidance issued by the Department on June 22, 2011, and last updated February 28, 2020, titled "Statement of the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C" (Olmstead Guidance), and similar guidance documents are not enforceable. In addition, the Department plans to revisit the Olmstead Guidance in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enters v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369, 400 (2024), to assess whether the Olmstead Guidance is consistent with the single best meaning of the relevant statutory text. The Department will no rely upon the Olmstead Guidance in its enforcement of Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act."

It is literally insane that the DOJ was suing states to force institutions to release mentally ill patients. To avoid those lawsuits, states were setting violent, dangerous mentally ill patients free into our communities.

This was a deliberate choice.

It explains so much.

It's so unreal that it's hard to believe this was federal policy for two decades.

Yes, it was.

That it is. We're sure that some state will sue and object to this policy change.

That's exactly what was happening.

We need to reopen the institutions and rethink how we treat mental illness and addiction in America. Those two things are the biggest drivers of homelessness, which drives up crime, drives down property values, and creates more problems for our communities. Billions of tax dollars have been used by non-profits and governments to end homelessness to no avail, and now we understand why.