For Immediate Release: March 3, 2005
Contact: Chris Burley, Bazelon Center, (202) 467-5730 x 133

Disability Rights Group Steamed Over Boyle Nomination

Bazelon Center Urges Senate Judiciary Committee to Stop Boyle Cold

Terrence Boyle's Record on Disability Issues (Updated 2/24/05)

Washington, DC—A national legal advocacy group for the rights of Americans with disabilities today expressed outrage at the re-nomination of Terrence Boyle to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Fourth Circuit covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

Responding to a Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on Boyle’s confirmation scheduled for this afternoon, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law urged committee members to reject Boyle’s nomination, citing his record of ruling to limit civil rights protections for Americans with disabilities. The following is a prepared statement by Jennifer Mathis, Bazelon Center senior staff attorney:

“Terrence Boyle is one judicial nominee who should be stopped cold. If confirmed, he will expand on his long record of decisions that undermine bedrock civil rights laws for people with disabilities.

“ Boyle’s record is telling. He has ruled that Congress has no authority to enact key parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He has argued that employers should be the main arbiters of what is considered a reasonable accommodation, effectively giving employers the biggest say in what constitutes discrimination against employees with disabilities. He has even ruled that the ADA doesn’t protect prison inmates with disabilities.

“This is a judge who has opposed medical privacy for any person who brings a discrimination suit under the ADA. In one case, he required a plaintiff whose psychiatric disability allegedly resulted from past physical and sexual abuse to allow defendants unlimited access to her entire medical history.

“Boyle’s position on the scope of the ADA was so extreme in one case that even judges he hopes to join on the conservative Fourth Circuit criticized his reading as misguided. An extraordinary number of Boyle’s outrageous decisions have been reversed or overruled by higher courts, but a lifetime appointment to the Fourth Circuit would put him in a more powerful position to undermine civil rights protections for people with disabilities.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee faces a decision between Boyle’s interest in securing confirmation and the interests of the tens of millions of people who are protected by laws Boyle has sought to undermine. Disability rights is not a partisan issue. Committee members from both sides of the aisle need to stand up for the rights of Americans with disabilities and reject Boyle’s nomination.”

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The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a nationally recognized leader on disability rights law, having played a central role in legal victories for people with disabilities in the 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. and 2004 Tennessee v. Lane Supreme Court decisions. The Center engages in ongoing legal advocacy to fight discrimination against people with disabilities.