Missouri quietly slipped out of a multistate lawsuit this week that targeted federal disability protections requiring states to offer services that help people with disabilities live in the community instead of in institutions. For advocates and families who had been flooding the attorney general’s office with calls and organizing for months, the move landed as a huge, if low-key, relief.
Missouri’s exit was reported this week, according to the St. Louis Business Journal, which republished a report from the Missouri Independent. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office told the outlet that Missouri initially joined the case to push back on what it viewed as federal overreach and that recent federal action on the rule’s contested language lessened the need for the state to stay in the fight.
The legal challenge dates back to September 2024, when 17 Republican-led states sued over updates to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The case, Texas v. Kennedy, is pending in the Northern District of Texas and has been shrinking as some states bow out, according to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. The plaintiffs took aim at a 2024 rule that clarified when gender dysphoria can qualify as a disability and broadened how the law defines the “most integrated setting.”
Federal memos change the terrain
The lawsuit dropped into a fast-shifting federal landscape. On June 18, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo concluding that “neither Section 504 nor the ADA” imposes an integration mandate on states. Then, on July 20, the department published a Federal Register notice stating that its 2011 Olmstead guidance "is not enforceable." Together, those moves scrambled the enforcement picture that disability advocates had leaned on for years.
Advocates hail the move
Disability-rights advocates and families in Missouri reacted to the withdrawal with a mix of relief and cautious optimism, telling the Missouri Independent that the decision reflected sustained local pressure on the attorney general’s office. Sangyeal Lee, who serves on the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council, said he was “so happy” when he heard the state had pulled out, and local advocates said the move reduces the immediate risk to services that allow people with disabilities to stay in their homes and communities instead of entering institutions.
State budget pressure raises the stakes
The legal retreat comes as Missouri has been wrangling with tough budget choices this spring and early summer. Lawmakers sparred over an $80.7 million package of proposed cuts, and the budget signed on June 30 removed several smaller programs that advocates say are crucial for community living. Data from Missouri’s Department of Mental Health program book show that self-directed supports are projected to cost about $48,534 per person in fiscal 2025, compared with much higher average costs for residential services. Advocates have used those figures to argue that helping people live in the community is both humane and cost‑effective.
What the memos mean for courts
Legal experts caution that Justice Department memos and guidance notices do not actually rewrite statutes and that courts will ultimately decide whether the integration requirement survives in its current form, STAT reported. Even so, the OLC memo and the newer clarification could shape how agencies enforce disability law and may give the states still in the Texas case some added leverage as the litigation grinds on.
The lawsuit is still active in the Northern District of Texas, and advocates say Missouri’s decision to walk away, one of several withdrawals by Republican-led states over the past year, could limit how broadly the case reaches even as the core fight over the integration mandate continues in briefs and, potentially, on appeal for months to come.
