⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The District of Columbia Circuit hears a long-running disability-rights case about helping nursing-home residents return to community life. Larry McDonald, an Army veteran with a physical disability, spent years in a nursing facility and testified that he wanted to leave. District staff helped him pursue a housing voucher, but a trial judge found that transition assistance later stopped while his care team considered assisted living. Another class member, Ivy Brown, struggled with housing paperwork and said staff did not answer later requests for help after her case was closed. Residents sued the District in 2010 under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. After an initial trial and an earlier appeal, a second trial ended in a 2024 ruling for the class. The judge ordered improved outreach and transition assistance, adequate capacity for community care, and public reporting. The case was long known as Brown v. District of Columbia; this appeal bears McDonald's name. The District's lawyer, Jeremy Girton, will argue that its existing plan works and that the order duplicates nursing homes' duties and reaches too far. The Supreme Court's Olmstead rule treats unnecessary institutionalization as potential disability discrimination, while allowing governments to object to changes that would fundamentally alter their services. DACL is the District's aging agency that coordinates transitions; the MDS survey question discussed here asks residents whether they want to learn about returning to the community. The EPD waiver is a Medicaid route to home and community-based care for older people and adults with physical disabilities.

McDonald v. District of Columbia (No. 25-7135) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued September 23, 2026.