Why two conservative justices want courts to reconsider disability discrimination suits
Why two conservative justices want courts to reconsider disability discrimination suits The high court unanimously said courts can't use a higher standard to block suits for damages for some disability discrimination claims and not others. But they declined to set the standard.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Supreme Court sides with straight woman in 'reverse discrimination' case
The Supreme Court made a unanimous decision after siding with a woman who claims she didn't get a job and then was demoted because she is straight.
Scripps News
WASHINGTON – Disability rights advocates breathed a sigh of relief when the Supreme Court on June 12 made it easier for students with disabilities to sue schools for damages.
Not only did all the justices agree that some courts were using too tough a standard to block lawsuits like one brought by a Minnesota teenager with a rare form of epilepsy, but they also rejected her school's argument that the real issue is the standard is too lax for other types of disability discrimination claims.
'The very foundation of disability civil rights was on the line,' Shira Wakschlag, an attorney with The Arc of the United States, said in a statement after the decision.
But the court didn't settle the larger issue of what the standard should be in all cases. The justices only said there shouldn't be different standards for discrimination claims involving educational instruction.
And two of the court's six conservatives – Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh – said the school raised 'serious arguments' that courts are getting that standard wrong.
In a concurring opinion, Thomas wrote that he hopes 'lower courts will carefully consider whether the existing standards comport with the Constitution and the underlying statutory text.'
Two of the court's three liberals – Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson – pushed back, saying the school's argument that a person with a disability must prove there was an intent to discriminate is clearly wrong.
'The statutes' text and history, as well as this Court's precedent, foreclose any such purpose requirement,' Sotomayor wrote in a concurring opinion.
More: In unanimous decision, Supreme Court makes it easier for students with disabilities to sue schools
How the case got to the Supreme Court
The issue in the Minnesota case was whether the school failed to accommodate the special needs of Ava Tharpe, whose rare form of epilepsy makes it difficult to attend school in the morning.
Federal courts agreed with the family that the school hadn't done enough and needed to provide evening instruction.
But the courts said the Tharpes couldn't use the Americans with Disabilities Act to try to get the school to pay for outside teachers and other expenses incurred before they won their case. And they said the Tharpes couldn't use the Rehabilitation Act to seek a court order binding the school to teach Ava after regular school hours.
Judges on the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said their hands were tied because of a 1982 circuit decision – Monahan v. Nebraska − that said school officials need to have acted with 'bad faith or gross misjudgment' for suits to go forward involving educational services for children with disabilities.
That's a tougher standard than the 'deliberate indifference' rule often used when weighing other types of disability discrimination claims.
The school argued that 'deliberate indifference' is too lax. Their lawyers said the plain text of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act prohibit only intentional discrimination.
What the Supreme Court decided
The Supreme Court said they couldn't consider that argument because they'd only been asked to decide whether the lower courts were correct to apply a 'uniquely stringent' standard for cases like Ava's – not to decide what the standard should be in all cases.
'We will not entertain the (school) District's invitation to inject into this case significant issues that have not been fully presented,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.
Thomas said he agreed that it wouldn't have been right for the court to take on the larger issue with its significant ramifications for disability rights.
But in his concurring opinion that Kavanaugh joined, Thomas said he'd be willing to do so in an 'appropriate case.'
'Whether federal courts are applying the correct legal standard under two widely utilized federal statutes is an issue of national importance,' he wrote, 'and the (school) District has raised serious arguments that the prevailing standards are incorrect.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
36 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Israel and Iran trade strikes for a third day as hundreds are reported dead
DUBAI — Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day Sunday and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program, which could provide an offramp, were canceled. Israel's strikes have killed at least 406 people in Iran and wounded 654, according to a human rights group that has long tracked the country, Washington-based Human Rights Activists. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures. The region braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment Friday of Iranian nuclear and military sites killed several top generals and nuclear scientists. Neither side showed any sign of backing down. Iran said Israel struck two oil refineries, raising the prospect of a broader assault on Iran's heavily sanctioned energy industry that could affect global markets. The Israeli military, in a social media post, warned Iranians to evacuate arms factories, signaling a further widening of the campaign. Israel, the sole though undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, said it launched the attack to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The two countries have been adversaries for decades. Explosions shook Iran's capital, Tehran, around noon and again around 3:30 p.m. Semiofficial news agencies close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported one strike in the area of Vali-e Asr Square downtown and another in a neighborhood named for the air force, which is headquartered there. Sirens went off across much of Israel again around 4 p.m., warning of what would be Iran's first daytime assault since the fighting began. There were no immediate reports of casualties. President Trump has expressed full support for Israel's actions while warning Iran that it can avoid further destruction only by agreeing to a new nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that if Israel's strikes on Iran stop, then 'our responses will also stop.' He said the United States 'is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility.' Israel said 14 people there have been killed and 390 wounded. Iran has fired more than 270 missiles, 22 of which got through the country's sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses to make impact, according to Israeli figures. The country's main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day. Israeli strikes targeted Iran's Defense Ministry building early Sunday after hitting air defenses, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear program. The killing of several top generals and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes indicated that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran at the highest levels. Araghchi said Israel targeted an oil refinery near Tehran and another in a province on the Persian Gulf. He said Iran targeted 'economic' sites in Israel, without elaborating. Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that an Israeli drone strike caused a 'strong explosion' at an Iranian natural gas processing plant. The extent of damage at the South Pars natural gas field was not immediately clear. Such sites have air-defense systems around them, which Israel has been targeting. In a sign that Iran expects Israeli strikes to continue, state television reported that metro stations and mosques would be made available as bomb shelters beginning Sunday night. In Israel, at least six people, including a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven were missing. An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged or destroyed buildings, bombed-out cars and shards of glass. Some people could be seen leaving with suitcases. Four other people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42. The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for research in Rehovot, reported 'a number of hits to buildings on the campus.' It said no one was harmed. An oil refinery was damaged in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, according to the firm operating it, which said no one was wounded. World leaders made urgent calls to de-escalate. The attack on nuclear sites set a 'dangerous precedent,' China's foreign minister said Saturday. The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where war still rages after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off such calls, saying Israel's strikes so far are 'nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.' Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that it has not pursued a weapon since 2003. But Iran has enriched ever larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so. The United Nations atomic watchdog issued a rare censure of Iran last week. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive nuclear talks, said Washington remained committed to them and hoped the Iranians would return to the table. Iran's foreign minister on Saturday called the nuclear talks 'unjustifiable' after Israel's strikes. In a social media post early Sunday, Trump reiterated that the U.S. was not involved in the attacks on Iran and warned that any retaliation directed against the United States would bring an American response 'at levels never seen before.' 'However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!' he wrote. In Iran, satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage at Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility. U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Mariano Grossi told the Security Council that the aboveground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to be hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said. Israel also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said four 'critical buildings' were damaged, including Isfahan's uranium-conversion facility. The IAEA said there was no sign of increased radiation at Natanz or Isfahan. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity Sunday in line with official procedures, said it would take 'many months, maybe more' to restore the two sites. Gambrell, Melzer and Goldenberg write for the Associated Press. Gambrell reported from Dubai, Melzer from Nahariya, Israel, and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv. AP writers Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Sam Mednick and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Alex Polikoff, Who Won a Marathon Housing Segregation Case, Dies at 98
Alex Polikoff, who won a landmark discrimination case before the Supreme Court in 1976 showing that the City of Chicago had segregated Black and white public housing residents, and who then spent decades fighting to make sure that the court's will was enforced, died on May 27 at his home in Keene, N.H. He was 98. His daughter Eve Kodiak confirmed the death. Mr. Polikoff's class-action lawsuit, known as Gautreaux after its lead plaintiff, Dorothy Gautreaux, ranks among the most important decisions in the history of civil rights litigation. Ms. Gautreaux, a public-housing resident, and her five co-plaintiffs claimed that the Chicago Housing Authority had systematically funneled Black residents into a small number of poorly constructed high-rise complexes, which became havens of crime and drug use. Such segregation was an open secret in Chicago, and the subject of decades of protest — Mr. Polikoff filed the case in August 1966, just months after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began his own grass-roots campaign to desegregate the city. But Chicago, under Mayor Richard J. Daley, pushed back. Dr. King left the city without success, while Mr. Polikoff spent a decade fighting the city in court. Ms. Gautreaux died in 1968, eight years before the case reached the Supreme Court. By then, the lawsuit had been combined with a similar suit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In oral arguments before the court, Mr. Polikoff squared off against one of his former classmates from the University of Chicago Law School: Robert H. Bork, the solicitor general. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Buzz Feed
4 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
People Are Sharing Things America Actually Gets Right
It's easy to focus on what's wrong with America — from healthcare costs to political polarization, there's no shortage of criticism. But when u/Ulrich-Stern asked, "What does the United States get right?" the responses revealed a surprising side of the country that often gets overlooked. From the simple brilliance of gas station convenience stores to groundbreaking scientific research that touches lives worldwide, people from around the globe chimed in with genuine appreciation for things America does exceptionally well. Here are 27 things that might just make you see the US in a whole new light: "Our public libraries are a real backbone of the country. Andrew Carnegie's groundwork in building the institution of free libraries, even in small towns, set a precedent that we wouldn't fathom today but couldn't live without. They often serve not only as an information exchange but as a cultural hub, art gallery, performing arts center, tax aide, voter registration site, job resource center, etc., in communities. Plus, they're one of the only places you can just exist for hours indoors without the expectation that you must buy something. And I feel like they've adapted to the ever-changing needs of their patrons in modern times faster in the US than most places." "Valuing actual wilderness in places like national parks. Here in England, they will 'restore' or 'create' natural habitats, which is sort of nice, but they are almost like zoos. They are too small to survive by themselves, so they are actively maintained. And in some English national parks, they actually allow housing developments as long as the architectural design is sympathetic. Here, 'countryside' means farms. There is still a notion in the US of protecting some large wilderness areas from development." "Accessibility code for buildings. I come from a country where disability is looked upon like a crime or fault. The US does an amazing job of making things accessible. I haven't seen all of the US, but the majority of places have an amazing system." "I see everyone bringing up the Americans with Disabilities Act and talking about how accessible our buildings are here in the United States. The ADA goes beyond that by so much more. I'm a relay operator for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Basically, my job enables folks who can't hear or hear well to use the phone. For a simplified overview: Using special equipment or a special mode on a cellphone, someone can connect to the relay service, give me a phone number, have me dial the number, and then read everything the other end says as I type it, verbatim. Then they type a response, and I read it out loud to the other end. The ADA also means that the burden is on the provider to provide a sign language interpreter at doctor's or hospital visits, not the patient." "Americans just don't get enough love for being broadly nice-as-fuck people. I've traveled the US quite a bit, and almost everywhere you go, someone will strike up a convo and have a laugh." "The US is an absolute science powerhouse. The technology we come out with has touched the lives of nearly every person on the planet." "Films. Don't get me wrong, the US can put out some bad films, but the best ones I've seen are usually American." "They do jazz very, very well." "The rate of smoking cigarettes. We do very little well in the US when it comes to overall health, but we are light years better than most places when it comes to the prevalence of cigarette smoking. Hardcore anti-smoking ads, laws of inconvenience, and social stigma really did work." "NASA!" "Burgers. Motherfuckin' burgers." "I've always envied your wildlife. I'm from England, and the only large wild animals (other than fish) we have are deer, boar and foxes. And they're incredibly rare. I've always thought it was so cool one country could have bears, moose, cougars, alligators, panthers, bison/buffalo, etc." "I say this as an immigrant who came to this country, so perhaps take it with a grain of salt. But the US truly gives people a second chance at life. My life would be nowhere near as good as it is right now if I were back in my home country." "As someone who was born in a country without democracy but has been fortunate enough to have lived in the US for a few years, I can't even begin. A lot of Americans don't even know how lucky they are just being American. They are already better off than the majority of the world's population." "Gas stations like QuikTrip, where they have clean bathrooms, lighted parking lots, free air for your tires, 10 different coffees on tap, beer, hot dogs, any soft drink or snack you want — the list goes on. In other countries — you're not going to believe this — their gas stations only "Aggressive self-determinism. Oh, your parents were abusive and you don't talk to them anymore? Fuck yeah, rad, good for you. Your partner couldn't give you the relationship you dreamed of having? Alright, rad, move on up. You hated your job and think your future is in being a movie star? Alright. You do you. Send me a premiere ticket." "We may not have the strongest passport, but it's still a darn good passport to have — especially for traveling." "Air conditioning." "How friendly people are. Don't get me wrong, there are tons of friendly cultures, and plenty more hospitable ones than the US, but the sheer level of openness and genuine friendliness is something else in the US." "The US postal system is the most far-reaching postal system in the world. We will deliver nearly anything to any mailbox. Do you live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Say no more — postal donkeys." "Although our healthcare system sucks, our pharmaceutical R&D is amazing and has produced so many medicines that have helped people worldwide." "GPS. If you use it, it is most likely US satellites. GPS is the largest constellation." "The amount of choices at the grocery store. It can be overwhelming, but most other countries don't have nearly the same amount of options for something as simple as 'potato chips.'" "Public lands. Between the federal government park service, forest service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife lands, and various state and local public lands, there are several hundred million acres of opportunity for recreation like hiking, camping, birdwatching, biking, skiing, hunting, fishing, sightseeing, or whatever you like to do to enjoy nature." "I love that in the US, if you go back to school at 40 or 50, no one blinks an eye. If you get a degree at 80 or 90, you are a total hero. In many cultures, you need to be done with school in your 20s. No one goes to school later in life." "Military logistics." "The interstate highway system. Blows my mind that I can get pretty much anywhere I want down there without having to take some roundabout route, and have ample places to stop and eat, use the bathroom, or refuel. Also, most people in the US actually follow the 'pass on the left, cruise right' rule, which is a rarity here in Canada." So, what do you think America gets right that the rest of the world could learn from? Whether you're American or from another country, we want to hear your perspective. Share the things you genuinely appreciate about the US — or debate whether these examples really are as great as people say — in the comments below!
