Today’s blog entry is a published decision from the Third Circuit, Montanez v. Price, here decided on October 8, 2025 (which was my birthday). It discusses a series of issues, including: the Eighth Amendment; what is a program, service, and/or activity; and nondelegable duty. More specifically, the blog entry is divided into the following categories
eighth amendment
Death Penalty and Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
By William Goren on
Posted in Constitutional law, Federal Cases
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…
Batson Challenges and Persons With Disabilities: Now You Will See More of Them
By William Goren on
In October 2012, I posted a blog entry discussing Batson challenges and persons with disabilities. Since that time I have attended many a networking event, CLE, or other law related event. At those events, if a person tells me they are a litigator, criminal or civil, I always ask them if they have ever…
ADA and Class Actions; Not Impossible (Prisons)
By William Goren on
Posted in ADA, Constitutional law, Federal Cases, Final Federal Regulations, Title I, Title II, Title IV
Previously, I have written on whether class actions are possible with respect to ADA claims considering how ADA claims are inherently focused on individual analysis. From reading the case law on a regular basis, I am seeing class actions being allowed with respect to Olmstead claims. Outside of that, it tends to be hit or…
ADA and prisons
By William Goren on
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…
Did the Second Circuit really do that? Is the ADA retroactive
By William Goren on
Since the changes are so radical between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ADAAA in many ways, a question comes up as to whether those changes are retroactive to pending ADA cases where the facts occurred entirely before January of 2009. There are two U.S. Supreme Court cases out there that strongly suggest that…