Robin Shea, the blogger of one of the blogs in my blogroll, talked about the case for this week in a recent blog of hers. The case is Herx v. Diocese of Fort Wayne South Bend. Robin’s perspective is always great and fun to read, but I wanted to offer my own perspective as
Constitutional law
The hammer falls: DOJ settles with the State Bar of Louisiana
In a previous post, I talked about how the Department of Justice had issued a letter to the Louisiana Supreme Court with respect to the way they went about dealing with bar applicants with a history of MH. This blog entry will talk about the settlement that DOJ entered into with the Louisiana Supreme…
Police liability redux: ADA, Excessive Force, failure to intervene
I have been blogging now for almost 3 years. We recently passed the 50,000 views mark. Thanks!! The holy grail of legal blogs is the American Bar Association Blawg 100. They are taking nominations now and the deadline is August 8. The nomination form can be found here. If you really like what you…
Is a person with a disability entitled to an attorney in a civil matter as a reasonable accommodation under title II of the ADA or under state law?
One of my more popular blog entries is the blog entry that discusses suing a state court system for disability discrimination. I also have a second blog entry following up on that blog entry.
This blog entry explores a related topic. Let’s say a person with a disability finds themselves in the court system…
Looking at Defenses in a Title II case
This particular blog entry will look at possible defenses that may be raised in a title II case. As is usual, there are different categories. Here we have case of the week, the court’s response to the arguments raised by the defendants in the case, and takeaways. Feel free to focus on any and/or all…
Professional licensing authorities and sovereign immunity
Recently, I talked about a decision from the 11th circuit which displayed a very good understanding of disability, in that case deafness, in a way that you do not often see in judicial decisions. Oftentimes when you are reading a case, you wonder whether a judge gets “disability,” so to speak. This particular blog entry…
ADA and prisons
Just what is the exposure to prisons with respect to discriminating against prisoners with disabilities? Prisons have several areas of exposure. First, if a prisoner is employed by the prison and suffers discrimination on the basis of a disability with respect to that employment, title I is involved. Second, the programs and activities of the…
The ADA and Bar Examiners: Uphill Climb for Wannabe Attorneys with MH
Does the Americans with Disabilities Act apply to bar examiners? If it were only that simple. Taking the approach with respect to entries that I’ve developed recently, part one discusses the facts of the case. Part two discusses the court’s reasoning and my responses. Finally, part three give the reader takeaways. The reader is free…
When it comes to licensing, can a public entity conduct its processes in a way that discriminates against persons with disabilities or in a way that mandate discrimination against persons with disabilities?
Many years ago I represented a public entity that was the subject of an adverse licensing decision. In that particular situation, the public entity had a group home for persons with a certain type of disability. The Medicaid certification inspection was done in such a way so that the disabilities of the people living in…
Using the rehabilitation act to get around sovereign immunity in Title II cases
Under Tennessee v. Lane, the equal protection class persons with disabilities fall into is going to depend upon the facts and circumstances of the individual case. That equal protection class is also going to dictate how likely a state is going to be able to defend on the grounds of sovereign immunity. The question…