Did the Texas v. Kennedy order end Olmstead or Section 504?

No. Judge James Wesley Hendrix vacated six pieces of HHS's 2024 Section 504 regulation, including the definition of "most integrated setting" and 45 C.F.R. § 84.76. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. remain in force.

Which states were parties to the final judgment?

The joint motion approved on Sept. 23, 2026, was between federal defendants and Texas, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, and Montana. Earlier in the case, Texas and 16 states had sued over the 2024 rule; most later dropped out.

Does the vacatur apply only in those five states?

No. Vacatur removes the listed regulatory text from the Code of Federal Regulations, so the change is nationwide. AAPD and ANCOR note that the underlying civil-rights statutes and Olmstead still bind recipients of federal funds.

Section 504: court vacates integration rules in HHS 2024 update

A Texas federal judge on Sept. 23, 2026, vacated HHS Section 504 community-integration rules after five states and HHS asked him to. Olmstead, the ADA, and Section 504 itself still stand, advocates say, but the order applies nationwide.

Policy · Section 504 · Olmstead · HCBS · HHS · DOJ · Community living · I/DD

Gunnar Klack, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Direct Support News desk · September 23, 2026 · Updated September 28, 2026 · 2 min read

A federal judge in Lubbock on Sept. 23, 2026, vacated six community-integration provisions from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' 2024 update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix granted a joint motion by federal defendants and Texas, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, and Montana in Texas v. Kennedy, No. 5:24-CV-225-H.

The order removes the definition of "most integrated setting" in 45 C.F.R. § 84.10, strikes 45 C.F.R. § 84.76 in full, and deletes related priority-to-integration sentences in other sections of the May 9, 2024, final rule (89 Fed. Reg. 40,066). The remainder of the 2024 rule stays. The judge dismissed other claims without prejudice and closed the case.

What still stands

Disability groups stress that the statutes and the Supreme Court precedent were not struck. Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Olmstead v. L.C. still require public entities to avoid unjustified isolation of people with disabilities. "The integration mandate doesn't depend on this regulation," Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund executive director Michelle Uzeta told Disability Scoop; she called the outcome a surrender rather than a legal loss because HHS joined the states instead of defending the rule.

The Path to the order runs through a June 2026 Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memo that argued neither the ADA nor Section 504 requires states to treat people with mental disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate — a reading 18 governors and many advocates rejected. ANCOR CEO Barbara Merrill said the administration's reliance on that memo is especially risky while states look for HCBS savings under large federal Medicaid cuts.

Why this matters for providers and DSPs

Agency managers, QIDPs, and DSPs work every day to keep people with I/DD in homes and community settings rather than institutions. The vacated text had spelled out, for HHS fund recipients, that programs should prefer the most integrated methods. Losing that regulatory clarity may confuse state agencies, managed care plans, and provider agency boards about what HHS will enforce — even though Olmstead litigation and state Olmstead plans still apply. Watch state Medicaid and DD agency guidance, and keep documenting how services support community living under existing waiver and settings rules.

Common questions

Did the Texas v. Kennedy order end Olmstead or Section 504?: No. Judge James Wesley Hendrix vacated six pieces of HHS's 2024 Section 504 regulation, including the definition of "most integrated setting" and 45 C.F.R. § 84.76. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. remain in force.
Which states were parties to the final judgment?: The joint motion approved on Sept. 23, 2026, was between federal defendants and Texas, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, and Montana. Earlier in the case, Texas and 16 states had sued over the 2024 rule; most later dropped out.
Does the vacatur apply only in those five states?: No. Vacatur removes the listed regulatory text from the Code of Federal Regulations, so the change is nationwide. AAPD and ANCOR note that the underlying civil-rights statutes and Olmstead still bind recipients of federal funds.