Today’s blog entry concerns the Supreme Court case decided yesterday, Moore v. Texas, talking about how do you go about figuring out whether a person with an intellectual disability is eligible for the death penalty. Before proceeding further, a couple of notes. First, this is the third decision in a matter of a few
Federal Cases
Endrew Decided
As you know, it is rare that I blog more than once a week. I do make exceptions for extraordinary situations. This is one of those situations. Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court decided Endrew The decision contains stirring language, and is a huge victory for students with disabilities with IEP’s. It will also fundamentally…
Refusing to Take Funds for Discriminatory Reasons as a Violation of the ADA
Today’s case, Aguirre v. California School of Court Reporting-Riverside, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167980 (C.D. Cal. December 2, 2016), comes from a publication that I subscribe to call Disability Compliance for Higher Education. It is an excellent publication geared towards the professionals that serve people with disabilities in higher education. It also will…
All Over the Place or What You Have to Show to Get Standing Under Title III of the ADA
Today’s case, Deutsch v. Abijaoude, from the Western District of Texas (Austin) is a tour de force for discussing the possible standards for standing under title III of the ADA. As is usual, the blog entry is divided into categories: Facts; just what is necessary to show standing?; attorney’s fees and costs; and takeaways.…
Honest Belief Rule
Today’s case, to DeWitt v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company deals with the honest belief rule. This rule allows an employer to justify a termination if it honestly believes its reason for doing so was valid regardless of whether it actually was. As is usual, the blog entry is divided into categories: facts; court’s reasoning; and…
Admissibility of settlement offers and their impact on the interactive process
Obviously, I missed a blog entry last week. I have an explanation. My daughter was on break, my wife took a couple of days off towards the end of the week, and client matters intervened. Also, last week, I added an article to my in the media section, where I can be found discussing in…
Gorsuch and Rights of Persons with Disabilities
For those in New England, congratulations on a phenomenal come back. Greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. As you can imagine, people in Atlanta are a bit besides themselves. I am relatively new to the Atlanta area, going on five years now, and so perhaps it didn’t hit me quite so hard. Also, growing up…
Survival of ADA Claims Redux
Two years ago, I discussed in this blog entry the issue of whether ADA claims survive. In that case, the court looked to local law to decide whether the ADA claim survived. Today’s case, Guenther v. Griffin C Inc., goes one further by holding that it isn’t local law that decides whether claims for…
Do Security Clearances Trump the ADA/Rehabilitation Act?
Today’s case is from the very end of December of last year and involves a question that I have not seen before. That is, if there is a national-security exemption for having to comply with the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act? The case is Hale v. Johnson decided by the Sixth Circuit on December 29,…
Endrew Oral Argument and Regulatory Developments
I just reviewed the transcript of the oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Endrew v. Douglas County School District, which involves figuring out just how far a school district needs to go in order to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE), under IDEA. Here is what we know from that oral…