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Beat Back a Double-Barreled Assault on Disability Rights
April 22, 2005—The stage is set for a double-barreled assault on the
rights of tens of millions Americans with disabilities as early as next week.
Once again, the Bazelon Center and ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability
Rights need your help to stop the confirmation of two radical judges whose
decisions have undermined bedrock civil rights laws that protect people with
disabilities from discrimination.
Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed its vote on the confirmation
of controversial judicial nominee Terrence Boyle to the Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals and promised swift action on former Alabama Attorney General William
Pryor’s nomination to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Both have
long and disturbing records on disability rights and other important civil
rights concerns:
As a result of Pryor’s arguments in Garrett v. Board of Trustees
of Univ. of Alabama, the Supreme Court ruled to limit dramatically the ADA’s
application to employment discrimination. His reasoning in Garrett has
since been used in attempts to further limit the scope and enforcement
of the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Boyle has ruled that Congress overstepped its authority in providing
certain protections to people with disabilities under the ADA. His reasoning
in these
decisions was rejected last May by the Supreme Court's decision in Tennessee
v. Lane. In fact, an extraordinary number of
Boyle's decisions have been reversed or overruled by higher courts and
many of his positions have been so extreme that even judges on the conservative
Fourth Circuit criticized his reading as too narrow.
These actions have had terrible consequences for Americans with disabilities:
Because of Bill Pryor’s efforts, former nurse Pat Garrett was unable
for years to have any court review her claim that she was demoted because
she developed breast cancer. Garrett, and thousands more, ultimately lost
the right
to seek monetary damages from their public employers for discrimination
on the basis of disability.
In Butler v. Burroughs Wellcome, Inc., Terrence Boyle required a plaintiff
whose psychiatric disability allegedly resulted from past physical and
sexual abuse to allow defendants unlimited access to her entire medical
history.
Discussing his efforts to abandon court-ordered improvements in Alabama’s
child welfare system, Pryor stated publicly that “[i]t matters not to
me” whether his actions would leave children unprotected. He continued, “My
job is to make sure that the state of Alabama isn’t run by federal courts.
. . . My job isn’t to come here and help children.”
Boyle used questionable reasoning to reduce housing options for people
with mental disabilities with his ruling in Oxford House v. City of
Raleigh,
ruling
that a city’s requirement that limited the number of supported
housing residences in a given area constituted discrimination in
favor of people
with disabilities.
If confirmed, Boyle and Pryor would have lifetime appointments to two of the
most important courts in the land—powerful positions that would allow
them to further erode key civil rights protections for tens of millions of
Americans with disabilities and others.
Don’t let these extremists undermine hard-won protections from discrimination.
Please take action now.
Fifteen years ago, Republicans and Democrats worked together
to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act. Once again, it is the time for
politicians of all political
stripes to fight to protect the rights of Americans with disabilities. Please
contact your Senators and urge them to oppose confirmation of Terrence Boyle
to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and Bill Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit.
Make the Call: Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121
to be connected to your Senators. Once you’ve been connected to one of your Senators,
ask to speak to the Legislative Assistant handling judicial nominations and
urge him/her to oppose Terrence Boyle and Pryor’s nominations.
Send
an Email: Use our e-advocacy system to
send a loud, clear message that you oppose Boyle and Pryor and that your
Senators
should, too.
It is especially important that Senate Judiciary Committee Members hear from
you. If your Senator is listed below, please make sure you contact them.
Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman (R-PA): 202-224-4254
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT): 202-224-5251
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA): 202-224-3744
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ): 202-224-4521
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH): 202-224-2315
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL): 202-224-4124
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC): 202-224-5972
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): 202-224-2934
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS): 202- 224-6521
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK): 202-224-5754
Senator Patrick Leahy, Ranking Democratic Member (D-VT): 202-224-4242
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA): 202-224-4543
Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE): 202-224-5042
Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI): 202-224-5653
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): 202-224-3841
Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI): 202-224-5323
Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY): 202-224-0420
Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL): 202-224-2152
Contact the Committee: 202-224-5225
Fast Facts on Terrence Boyle
Boyle was first nominated to the Fourth Circuit
on the recommendation of former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). The Fourth
Circuit covers North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland; More than 3.1
million people with disabilities live in these states, according to U.S.
Census
data. [1]
As a district court judge, Boyle was reversed by the Fourth Circuit,
known as an extremely conservative court, in more than 150 cases, including
dozens
of cases involving civil rights and criminal justice issues, according
to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Bill Pryor is the former Attorney General of Alabama. Pryor, who did
not win Senate confirmation of his nomination to the Eleventh Circuit Court
of
Appeals last year, has been re-nominated by President Bush to serve on
the Eleventh Circuit.
The Eleventh Circuit is comprised of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama; More
than 3.6 million people with disabilities live in these states, according
to U.S. Census data. [2]
Pryor has been serving temporarily as an Eleventh Circuit judge because
President Bush used a “recess” nomination to circumvent the Senate’s “advice
and consent” role and appoint Pryor for a one-year period.
As Alabama Attorney General, Pryor filed briefs calling for eliminating
protections in the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Age Discrimination
in
Employment
Act and other federal anti-discrimination laws.
[1] U.S. Census Bureau. “Disability Status of the Civilian Noninstitutionalized
Population by Sex and Selected Characteristics for the United States and
Puerto Rico: 2000.” Available online at: http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t32.html.
Fourth Circuit non-institutionalized people with disabilities, age 5 and above:
North
Carolina (988,730); South Carolina (516,725); Virginia (758,350); West
Virginia (316,600); and Maryland (535,275)
[2] Ibid.Eleventh Circuit -institutionalized people with disabilities, age
5 and above: Florida (2,067,645); Georgia (903,100); Alabama (644,260)
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Fair Use Policy
Please feel free to forward our alerts as long as you credit the Bazelon Center with a link to our website: http://www.bazelon.org
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite
1212
Washington, DC 20005
