Lawsuit to eliminate 504 - fyi

I attended most of the Disability Community Briefing: What You Can Do to Stop the Attack on Section 504 webinar today. Additional info can be found on their website and I think they will post the recording and Q and A here as well.

My take aways:

1. The whole gender dysphoria language is fluff to hide the real intent. The gender dysphoria only appears in the preamble of the rule (almost in passing) and not the rule itself and is not the focus of the rule at all. The bulk of the lawsuit language goes on and one about gender dysphoria and how it will hard the states to accommodate, I believe to distract from the target. Paxton has used this tactic in previous suits.
2. The target is to declare 504 (and subsequent references to 504 in other laws and rules such as IDEA, ADA, Rehab Act) unconstitutional. This is the test kitchen to then move on to other disability laws (probably all of them) to declare them unconstitutional.
3. Why would the 17 states want to do this- they do not like being told to spend Medicaid funds on accessibility. Remember, 504 is part of the Rehab Act and is CIVIL RIGHTS law. DoE has a rule on 504 and that is the only one portion that affects K12 (governed by Dept of Ed rulings- so guess where that is going). 504 is much broader that k12- think access to healthcare, govt buildings/institutions, employee non-discrimination in the workplace, etc. I took a deeper dive to see how many of the 17 states on the suit were also states who had not taken the ACA Medicaid expansion (7 of the 17- listed below). In the webinar they suggested some states may have just focused on the gender dysphoria and maybe not read the details. The media only reported the gender thing.
4. In the webinar, they indicated that the plaintiff requested a pause and to have time to organize and have to submit info on their plans 2/24/25. The only “Actions” for now would be to contact your state AG if possible and indicated concerns. The DREDF website has sample letters, etc.
5. To Reremind you- the demands are:

DEMAND FOR RELIEF Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court:

a. Issue permanent injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing the Final Rule;

b. Declare that the Final Rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act;

c. Hold unlawful and set aside (i.e., vacate) the Final Rule;

d. Declare Section 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794, unconstitutional; 

e. Issue permanent injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing Section 504; 

f. Award attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in this action to Plaintiffs;

g. Issue any and all other relief to Plaintiffs the Court deems just and proper.

D and E are the real targets and the test kitchen to go after the big disability laws.