Here's the scoop....
The wording of the decision has me especially concerned.

Beth the OT

email address: [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: * EASI: Equal Access to Software & Information
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Prof Norm Coombs
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 5:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: Justices Limit Disability Law


>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Justice For All Moderator" <jfa@[209.21.203.35]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:22 AM
>Subject: Justices Limit Disability Law
>
>
>>
>>                    Justice For All
>>
>>                    [log in to unmask]
>>
>>             Justices Limit Disability Law
>>
>> February 21, 2001
>> Filed at 10:28 a.m. ET
>>
>> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court limited the reach of the
>> Americans With Disabilities Act, ruling Wednesday that state
>> workers cannot file employment-discrimination lawsuits against
>> their employers under the federal disability-rights law.
>>
>> The 5-4 ruling, a further cutback of the federal government's power
>> over the states, said Congress exceeded its authority when it let
>> state workers file such claims under the 1990 law.
>>
>> The federal law does not trump states' 11th Amendment immunity
>> against being sued in federal courts, the justices said.
>>
>> ``We decide here whether employees of the state of Alabama may
>> recover money damages by reason of the state's failure to comply
>> with the (employment discrimination) provisions of Title 1 of the
>> Americans With Disabilities Act. We hold that such suits are barred
>> by the 11th Amendment,'' Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote
>> for the court.
>>
>> The ruling in an Alabama case added to the court's series of
>> decisions that have increasingly tipped the federal-state balance
>> of power toward the states.
>>
>> Those decisions have all featured the same 5-4 split among the
>> justices, and that lineup was repeated in Wednesday's decision.
>>
>> Joining Rehnquist were Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin
>> Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Dissenting were
>> Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
>> and Stephen G. Breyer.
>>
>> Writing for the four, Breyer said, ``The court ... improperly
>> invades a power that the Constitution assigns to Congress.''
>>
>> In January 2000, the justices barred state workers from suing their
>> employers in federal court under the federal Age Discrimination in
>> Employment Act. That ruling said the law could not override states'
>> immunity against being sued in federal court.
>>
>> The ADA is perhaps best known for requiring wheelchair ramps in
>> buildings across the country.
>>
>> The law bans job discrimination against the disabled, requiring
>> employers to offer reasonable accommodations to disabled people who
>> are otherwise qualified to perform a job. It also bans
>> discrimination in the provision of government programs and
>> services.
>>
>> The law was signed by former President Bush, who filed a court
>> brief supporting two Alabama state employees who sued the state.
>> Bush said the ADA let disabled people ``pass through once-closed
>> doors into a bright new era of equality, independence and
>> freedom.''
>>
>> Wednesday's ruling reversed a federal appeals court decision that
>> let Patricia Garrett and Milton Ash sue over alleged bias in their
>> state jobs.
>>
>> Garrett had been a University of Alabama nurse for 17 years when
>> she took a four-month leave to undergo surgery, radiation and
>> chemotherapy for breast cancer. When she returned, she said she was
>> ordered to take a lower-paying job or quit.
>>
>> Her lawsuit said her supervisor made negative comments about her
>> illness. She took the lower-paying job and later retired.
>>
>> Ash, a security guard for the Alabama Department of Youth Services,
>> said his severe asthma was aggravated by the agency's refusal to
>> enforce its no-smoking policy or repair exhaust problems on a
>> vehicle he had to drive.
>>
>> The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the two could sue
>> under the ADA, saying the law canceled the states' constitutional
>> immunity from being sued in federal court against their will.
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-
>> Disability.html?ex=983771154&ei=1&en=df11c20ffcadc972
>>
>> --
>>
>> Fred Fay
>> Chair, Justice For All
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.jfanow.org
>>
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