Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2021. Paxton sued the federal government in September over the Biden administration’s addition of a gender identity-related disorder to the disabilities protected under a section of a 1973 federal law. Republican attorneys general from 16 other states joined the lawsuit. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Amid a public backlash over the potential loss of disability protections, 17 Republican state attorneys general submitted a new court filing Thursday to clarify their position in a lawsuit that seeks to strike down part of a federal law that safeguards disabled people from discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed in September, targets the Biden administration’s addition of a gender identity-related disorder to the disabilities protected under a portion of federal law known as Section 504.
The AGs, in a joint status report filed with a U.S. District Court in Texas, clarified that they don’t want the lawsuit to take away Section 504 accommodations for people with disabilities.
“We’ve been saying all along that there was never any intention to take away 504 accommodations, and this court filing confirms that,” South Carolina Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement Thursday.
In recent weeks, the AGs have faced a growing public outcry stemming from conflicting messages about what the lawsuit would do.
National disability rights groups, advocates and experts have pointed to parts of the lawsuit in which the AGs ask the court to find the entirety of Section 504 unconstitutional. They fear that if the court agrees, the law’s discrimination protections for all people with disabilities could vanish.
Arkansas Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin, Georgia Republican Attorney General Chris Carr and others issued public statements in recent weeks adamantly denying that interpretation. Griffin has said that if the states win the lawsuit, “regulations would go back to what they were” before the gender identity-related disorder was added.
“Plaintiffs clarify that they have never moved — and do not plan to move — to declare or enjoin Section 504 … as unconstitutional on its face,” the new joint status report reads.
The lawsuit is currently on hold. The parties in the case agreed to pause litigation shortly after President Donald Trump took office, while his administration reevaluates the federal government’s position. A spokesperson for Carr told Stateline in an email that they expect the Trump administration to reverse the Biden rule, which could cause the lawsuit to be dropped.
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