Victory! Section 504 is safe!

Earlier this year, we reported on a federal lawsuit filed by 17 states against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that sought, among other things, to have Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 declared unconstitutional. Recently, all 17 states and HHS filed a joint status report asking the court to continue a pause that had been in place for the past few months.

Additionally, all 17 states said they are NO LONGER seeking to have Section 504 declared unconstitutional by the court. As stated in the joint status report, “[the] Plaintiffs further clarify that they have no intention to seek any relief from this Court on Count 3 (Section 504 is Unconstitutional) of their Complaint…”

This is a massive victory for all students with disabilities. The basic civil rights protections for people with disabilities remain the law of the land.

AOTA worked with the State Occupational Therapy Associations in these 17 states, providing them with strategic, messaging, and logistical support to advocate to the state attorneys general, urging them not to pursue legal action that could have resulted in the declaration of Section 504 unconstitutional. This huge victory wouldn’t have been possible if not for the joint advocacy efforts of AOTA and state occupational therapy associations, as well as the advocacy of countless other defenders of Section 504. Those 17 State OT Associations were able to conduct direct, local advocacy while being apprised of the national efforts, which was vital to keeping up the political pressure on all 17 attorneys general.