NEWS: States' Rights Case Seen as Threat by People with Disabilities

[Guest guest]

Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Americans with Disabilities Act

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

and the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems released the

following:

On Wednesday, October 11, 2000, the United States Supreme Court will hear a

case that could overturn the federal ban on discrimination against people

with disabilities in access to public services such as education, health and

mental health care. The case, University of Alabama v. Garrett, challenges

the constitutionality of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The case began as two lawsuits, combined by the trial court.

Garrett, 54, was director of women's services at the state university's

medical center in Birmingham when she was treated for breast cancer. After

being demoted and then transferred, apparently because her supervisor didn't

like " sick people, " Garrett sued the hospital. Milton Ash, 56, a corrections

officer with asthma, sued the state youth corrections agency for its failure

to enforce the agency's no-smoking rule and to service the cars he had to

drive so they wouldn't emit noxious fumes.

In both suits, the state argued that Congress does not have the power to

enact legislation requiring states to pay money damages. The trial court

accepted Alabama's argument, but last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the

Eleventh Circuit reversed the decision, finding that the Fourteenth Amendment

to the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to pass such a law in

order to enforce the guarantee of equal protection and due process of law.

In recent Supreme Court decisions, two factors appear to determine if a civil

rights statute exceeds Congress' power: (1) whether, when the law was

enacted, there was a significant problem of unconstitutional discrimination,

and (2) whether the requirements of the statute are proportionate and

reasonable responses to the problem Congress sought to remedy.

On October 11, town University law professor Gottesman will

argue that the ADA passes muster under both tests. Garrett and Ash plan to

attend the oral argument and will be available for interviews the day before.

A media briefing on the Garrett case will be hosted by the Bazelon Center for

Mental Health Law and the National Association of Protection and Advocacy

Systems at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 3.

At noon on October 3, a coalition of disability and civil rights groups plans

a " March for Justice " in support of the ADA. Alarmed at a trend in recent

Supreme Court decisions upholding states' rights over the rights of women and

the elderly, hundreds of advocates are expected to gather at noon in Upper

Senate Park on the north side of the U.S. Capitol, under the banner " Voting

for Our Lives. "

" This case could take the Supreme Court on it first step back to the dark age

of second-class citizenship for people with disabilities, " worries Ira

Burnim, legal director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and one of

the authors of the brief for Garrett and Ash.

Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, a decision overturning the circuit

court in Garrett, Burnim fears, could ultimately reach beyond the ADA's

protections governing public employment to eliminate all of Title II, which

prohibits discrimination in access to all programs and benefits operated by

states and localities. Furthermore, the constitutionality of other federal

civil rights laws that ban state-sponsored discrimination could also be

challenged.

To be sure, Burnim adds, states could enact their own laws with the same

protections. However, history suggests that this is unlikely. Congress

passed the ADA in 1990 precisely because it found " serious and pervasive "

discrimination by states based on stereotypes and prejudices about

disability, and states had refused to adopt appropriate legal protections

against such discrimination.

Former President Bush, who signed the ADA into law, seven members of

Congress who were leaders in drafting and enacting the ADA, and 14 states

have filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the respondents in the

appeal (Garrett and Ash). National disability, health and civil rights

groups, self- advocates, historians and law professors have also filed amicus

briefs. All 19 of the briefs for the respondents are available through the

Bazelon Center website at www.bazelon.org/garrettcase.html.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is the leading national legal-

advocacy organization representing people with mental illness or mental

retardation. Through precedent-setting litigation and in the public-policy

arena, the center works to define and uphold the rights of adults and

children who rely on public services and ensure them equal access to health

and mental health care, education, housing and employment. The nonprofit

organization is supported primarily by private foundations and individuals.

For general information:

Lee Carty, Bazelon Center, 202-467-5730, ext. 21, leec@...

For information on the October 3 briefing and March for Justice:

Jim Ward, NAPAS, 202-408-9514, ext. 102, jim@...

To schedule an interview with Ms. Garrett or Mr. Ash:

Eagle, 410-821-8220, paule@...

SOURCE Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

CO: Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; National Association of Protection

and Advocacy Systems

ST: District of Columbia

IN: HEA

SU: LAW

09/21/2000 11:53 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------

Regards -

Flanders

IAQ List Manager & Moderator

E-Mail: <A HREF= " mailto:iaq-owneronelist " >iaq-owneronelist </A>

Fax # 781-394-8288

Personal E-Mail: <A HREF= " mailto:rkfabf@... " >RKFABF@...</A>

<A HREF= " iaq " >IAQ List - Home</A>

iaq

<A HREF= " http://www.leadwicks.com/ " >Candle Soot & Lead Wicks</A>

http://www.leadwicks.com/

<A HREF= " http://candlesoot.com/ " >CANDLESOOT & INDOOR AIR QUALITY</A>

http://candlesoot.com/