Americans with Disabilities Act Policy Brief Series: Righting the ADA. Number 7: The Impact of the Supreme Court's ADA Decisions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

摘要

When enacted in 1990, supporters hailed the Americans with Disabilities Act as the 'emancipation proclamation for people with disabilities.' President Bush declared 'with today's signing (of the ADA). . . , every man, woman, and child with a disability can now pass through once closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence and freedom.' Yet recently, the Supreme Court has significantly narrowed the statute's broad protections. In the past four years, the Court has placed significant restrictions on whom the ADA covers, the types of remedies available to victims of discrimination, and when attorneys may seek fees under the statute. The Court also has expanded the defenses available to employers and questioned Congress' constitutional authority to enact the ADA. This paper explores the impact the Supreme Court's decisions have had on persons with disabilities. It reviews published and unpublished court decisions, as well as anecdotal evidence, and demonstrates that the Court's restrictive reading of the ADA has undermined Congress' goal of eradicating discrimination on the basis of disability. This paper discusses representative examples-particularly at the federal appellate level-of how the Supreme Court's decisions have impeded the rights of people with disabilities.