News from ADAWatch.org and the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)...

Tennessee v. Lane -- Another Assault on the ADA

The National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) and Bazelon Center for Mental Health are writing a brief for the Tennesse v. Lane Supreme Court case. The brief authors are collecting evidence regarding the continued inaccessibility of  courthouses nationwide.  If you have been denied access to a state or local courthouse since the ADA’s passage (because, for example, the courthouse was physically inaccessible, the courthouse failed to provide sign language interpreters, the courthouse failed to provide written materials in alternative formats, the court system had a policy that discriminated against jurors with disabilities, etc.), please contact your local Protection & Advocacy agency and share that information with them.  (Information on how to contact your local P&A can be found at www.napas.org.)

 

News Release from Tennessee and California Advocates

Action Alert and Contact Information Follows... 

 

Tennessee ADAPT members and advocates from California visited Tennessee Governor Bredesen's office and the office of Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers Monday, August 25th, as part of a campaign to persuade the State of Tennessee to withdraw the Tennessee v lane and Jones appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Tennessee is asking the Supreme Court to declare that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is unconstitutional and a violation of states rights. 
 
ADAPT members and the California contingent were able to secure meetings with Deputy Governor Cooley and Attorney General Summers. They hope to persuade the Governor and the Attorney General that Tennessee should not become known as the state that destroyed the ADA.
 
The Tennessee v Lane and Jones appeal originates from a suit brought by George Lane and Beverly Jones.  Mr. Lane had to crawl up the stairs to defend himself against criminal charges because the state court house lacks an elevator and the state refused to conduct the proceedings in an alternate accessible location.  Ms. Jones who is wheelchair mobile is a court reporter and was unable to get to the courtroom to do her job because of a similar refusal by the state to provide reasonable accommodations.
 
"That Tennessee would not only refuse to prove to someone due process unless they crawled up the stairs is outrageous," says Suzanne Colsey, a Tennessee ADAPT members who works at the Memphis Center for Independent Living.  "What is even more horrific is that Tennessee would go all the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to deny not just Mr. Lane and Ms. Jones their rights to equal access to the courts, but to deny that right to every person with a disability in the country."
 
Unfortunately, not all members of the disability rights community support the withdrawal of Tennessee's appeal.  Several important disability rights organizations centered in Nashville have not acted to express any opporsition to Tennessee's action.  Because of the obvious constitutionality issues at stake, they hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that the ADA is constitutional. 
 
"I'm concerned that the liklihood that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor is very low," says Sarah Bates, board member of Independent Living Services of Northern California.  "The Court has already ruled in a previous case, the University of Alabama v Garrett, that congress erred when it passed the ADA in that it did not document sufficiently that there was a prevailing pattern of discrimination against people with disabilities by states.  We must fight this appeal.  We would be foolish to think that the Supreme Court has changed its mind since they made the Garrett decision in 2002." 
 
End of News Release

ACTION ALERT: Support advocates in Tennessee case

 

The assault on disability rights guaranteed by the ADA continues.  People in Tennessee and their supporters around the nation are defending the ADA, and need your help this week!  Please circulate this alert to your advocacy lists.

 

We lost many rights under Title I of the ADA (employment) with the Garrett case.  Now the State of Tennessee appealed this Sixth Circuit case called Tennessee v. Lane to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case involves the right to fundamental access to state court buildings, and if Tennessee wins, it will further damage our rights the ADA.

 

George Lane, a man who uses a wheelchair, was a defendant in a court action in Polk County, Tennessee.  He is an amputee  responding to a complaint of driving without a license.  He crawled up the steps to an inaccessible courtroom in a building with no elevator the first time he was in the building, but he refused to do so in subsequent hearings.  The Court refused to accommodate him at an accessible location, and eventually held him in contempt.

 

The Circuit Court found that his due process rights were frustrated by Tennessee’s failure to accommodate him. 

 

Beverly Jones is a Court reporter who cannot gain access to the inaccessible Tennessee court system to perform her job.  She is wheelchair mobile, and the lack of accessibility in Tennessee court rooms is preventing her from working.

 

Actions of Tennessee and California disability advocates:

Tennessee people with disabilities first requested a meeting with newly-inaugurated Governor Phil Bredesen last February but received no response.  After being ignored a second time a few weeks ago, a group of thirteen, including people from Nashville and Memphis and four from California who had worked on a similar case, went into the Governor’s office and said they weren’t leaving until a meeting was agreed to.  We succeeded in arranging a meeting with the Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen’s Chief Deputy Dave Cooley this Friday afternoon, August 29th.

 

The group then went to the Attorney General’s office a few blocks away, and demanded a meeting with him.  Through his staff, he agreed to a substantive meeting with advocates.

 

What you can do:

 

1          Write, fax, call, or email to tell the Governor Phil Bredesen that you want his administration to protect the ADA, not tear it down!   He needs to hear that the ADA is a national issue and everyone is watching how they respond.

 

You can tell Bredesen that you support his disabled constituents in Tennessee.  Tell him what it would mean to lose the right to access to state and local government required by Title II.  Tell him to withdraw Tennessee’s appeal to the Supreme Court.

 

A short note will really help.

 

Mail:

                        Gov. Phil Bredesen

Governor’s Office

Tennessee State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243

 

Or Fax:            615.532.8067

 

Voice:              615.741.2001

 

Email:              Phil.Bredesen@state.tn.us

 

Any communication before Friday afternoon will help the delegation by letting the Governor know that people around the country are watching.  The discussion will continue, so letters after that will still be helpful.

 

2          Tell Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers how crucial the ADA is to you, and how people with disabilities throughout the country need for him to withdraw the Tennessee appeal.  The Sixth Circuit said that Lane and Jones were deprived of their rights to due process, and that Congress does have the power under the Fourteenth Amendment to trump the sovereignty of states under the Eleventh Amendment where due process is at stake.

 

Mail:               Attorney General Paul Summers, Esq.

                        P. O. Box 20207

Nashville, TN

37202-0207

 

Office at:           425 5th Avenue

Nashville, TN 37243

 

Voice:              615.741.3491

 

Email:              Paul.Summers@state.tn.us

 

For more information --

In Tennessee:               Randy Alexander:   randy@mcil.org  901.726.6404

                                    Suzanne Colsey:  Suzanne@mcil.org

In California:                 Walter Park:  walterpark@sbcglobal.net

                                    Hollynn Dlil:  hdlil@earthlink.net