An amicus brief in the Texas v. U..S. case, on appeal in the 5th circuit, was filed on Monday, April 1 by DREDF and the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, working with the Dentons law firm on behalf of our two organizations and 13 other leading disability rights organizations (see list below). The case was originally brought in district court by a number of states, led by Texas, that claimed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was rendered unconstitutional when the Trump administration reduced the mandatory penalty for failing to buy health insurance to zero, because the ACA was based on Congress’ authority to tax and there was no longer a tax. The district court sided with the plaintiff states and struck down the ACA in its entirety. Many other states have come together to defend the ACA in court, particularly as the federal Department of Justice has abdicated its obligation to defend its own federal law. The DREDF-Bazelon amicus brief emphasizes the importance of many programs and provisions under the ACA that have made high quality, affordable, and less discriminatory health insurance available to people with disabilities. Our brief also highlights the important long-term services and supports programs that have been developed or augmented under the ACA, and in particular, the ACA’s encouragement or the disability community’s long held goal of rebalancing Medicaid spending away form institutionalization and toward home and community based services. The U.S. House of Representatives also filled a brief supporting the constitutionality of the ACA.