--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "cluther" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Usher-Friends" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 18:56:05 -0400
Subject: [Usher-Friends] Fw: Another Bush Judicial Nominee Threatens
Disability Rights
Message-ID: <001701c24965$ee971b00$52241bce@4rt4401>
Hello Members of the Dolphins Family in USA.
Please send this message out to our Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Blind friends of
USA. George W. Bush is trying to put another Judges on the bench who is
against the Disabilities Causes.
Thank, Charles in NC.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justice For All Moderator" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 4:58 PM
Subject: Another Bush Judicial Nominee Threatens Disability Rights
> "Another Bush Judicial Nominee Threatens Disability Rights"
>
> Jennifer Mathis <[log in to unmask]> of the Bazelon
> Center shares the following summary about another Bush
> nomination to the federal court system:
>
> "Dennis Shedd's Record on Disability Issues"
>
> Judge Dennis Shedd, a Bush nominee to the Fourth Circuit
> Court of Appeals, has a striking record of hostility toward
> civil rights during his years on the federal bench,
> including a consistent disregard for the rights of people
> with disabilities. He has ruled against disability rights
> plaintiffs in almost every instance, departing from settled
> law and adopting tortured interpretations of disability
> rights laws. His opinions routinely ignore evidence,
> stating in conclusory fashion that the plaintiff has failed
> to produce evidence to support her claims. For example:
>
> Judge Shedd effectively read the right of employees to
> "reassignment" out of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
> Reassignment to a vacant position is a crucial protection
> for individuals with disabilities who can no longer perform
> their current jobs. Congress explicitly included
> reassignment as one type of accommodation required by the
> ADA. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
> and the courts have consistently interpreted the ADA to
> require an employer to reassign a person with a disability
> to a vacant position for which he is qualified, if such a
> position exists, when the person is no longer able to do
> his current job. Judge Shedd drastically limited the right
> to reassignment in a way that not only made no sense but
> was flatly contradicted by the EEOC, the agency on whose
> interpretations Judge Shedd purported to rely. Judge
> Shedd's decision stands out as both unique and bizarre.
>
> Judge Shedd ignored the plain meaning of the ADA when he
> approved a state health insurance pool's refusal of
> coverage for a man who was HIV positive. The pool was
> designed to provide insurance for individuals whose medical
> conditions disqualified them from private insurance. No
> other medical condition was excluded, and the state had
> done no actuarial analysis to justify the exclusion of
> individuals with HIV/AIDS. While many courts have held that
> the ADA does not prevent insurance plans from providing
> lesser benefits for treatment of particular types of
> disabilities, Shedd's ruling that the ADA permits the
> complete exclusion from any benefits based on a person's
> disability goes way beyond those decisions. The plaintiff
> who brought this case sought to have it decided on an
> expedited basis, but died eight months later, before any
> decision was rendered.
>
> Judge Shedd rejected a discrimination claim of a man who
> was fired because of his status as an alcoholic even though
> his alcoholism had no effect on his work performance and he
> was not intoxicated at work. The employer discovered that
> the man was drinking during a two-week period of leave
> approved by the employer, and fired him on that basis
> alone. The man was fired before he returned to work. A
> federal magistrate found no evidence that the man's
> alcoholism interfered with his ability to do his job and
> recommended that his claim be permitted to proceed.
> Nonetheless, Judge Shedd rejected the magistrate's
> recommendation and threw out the man's discrimination
> claim. He concluded, without citing any evidence, that the
> man's alcoholism rendered him unable to do his job, and
> therefore was not protected by the Rehabilitation Act.
>
> Judge Shedd exhibited troubling attitudes toward
> individuals with disabilities in his courtroom. In a 1995
> criminal trial, Shedd upheld the prosecutor's request to
> require the defendant's wife to hide that she was blind.
> The prosecutor was concerned that the wife's blindness
> would engender sympathy for the defendant. The prosecutor
> asked that the wife keep her cane out of sight. Shedd
> inquired of the defense attorney, "Does the cane have to be
> visible during the court trial?" The defense attorney
> replied that the woman depended on it. Shedd stated: "It
> is going to be down. I will stop the trial if she uses it
> for anything other than access in and out."
>
>
> What you can do: Contact your senator to voice your
> opposition to the nomination of Judge Shedd to the Fourth
> Circuit Court of Appeals. It is particularly important to
> contact Senator Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary
> Committee, and the other senators on the Committee. The
> Committee members are:
>
> Democrats:
> Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont, 202-224-4242
> Senator Joe Biden from Delaware, 202-224-5042
> Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois, 202-244-2152
> Senator John Edwards from North Carolina, 202-224-3154
> Senator Herbert Kohl from Wisconsin, 202-224-5653
> Senator Russ Feingold from Wisconsin, 202-224-5323
> Senator Dianne Feinstein from California, 202-224-3841
> Senator Charles Schumer from New York, 202-224-6542
> Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington, 202-224-3441
> Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts, 202-224-4543
>
> Republicans:
> Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, 202-224-5251
> Senator Charles Grassley from Iowa, 202-224-3744
> Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania, 202-224-4254
> Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona, 202-224-4521
> Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio, 202-224-2315
> Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama, 202-224-4124
> Senator Sam Brownback from Kansas, 202-224-6521
> Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, 202-224-2541
> Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina, 202-224-5972
>
> # # #
>
> =====================
>
> JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the
> American Association of People with Disabilities
> www.aapd-dc.org www.jfanow.org
>
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> www.aapd-dc.org
>
>
>
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