Fw: Case Leaves Disabilities Activists Wary Of Bush Policy

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----- Original Message ----- From: ParfumGigi@...

Tony Lambert 'Tiger'

Cc: MAM-NSIF@... ; lillian45usa2000@... ; IceMaidenZ@...

Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 10:07 PM

Subject: Case Leaves Disabilities Activists Wary Of Bush Policy

Most of us are totally disabled, this needs to go out, to our contact list! Where we can all contact our 1/2A & & congress person & tell them Act Responsible, protect the disabled! lufff to all of U* I'll be gone tomorrow until real late, hope I have time to look at the news tomorrow night if I get home in time.. gigi By Schafer Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page E01 The Justice Department has filed a Supreme Court brief supporting a company that is being sued for allegedly discriminating against a woman with a disability, worrying some activists about the Bush administration's willingness to defend the rights of the disabled. In the brief, the solicitor general argues that a lower court used flawed reasoning to classify the woman as disabled. The brief further argues that the high court should send the case back to the lower court so it can reconsider its ruling. Advocates for the disabled said that the Justice Department made good legal points. But they question why the administration took sides, filing a brief that favors the employer, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. "They could have done it because they were being hyper-technical, or they could have done it because they were trying to pander in some way to the business community," said Chai Feldblum, a professor at the town University Law Center who helped draft the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. Many activists said they fear the latter. They are watching closely for how the Justice Department behaves in several upcoming cases. "This is one step in the wrong direction," Feldblum said. Dan , a Justice Department spokesman, said that "the brief speaks for itself" and would not comment further. The White House said it is committed to supporting the rights of disabled Americans. "As you know, President Bush is a strong supporter of the Americans With Disabilities Act," said White House spokesman Stanzel, adding that the president introduced an initiative early in his presidency to fund transportation for disabled workers and encourage companies to create technology to assist them at work, among other things. "President Bush will remain vigilant in protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities, and he is proud to support the ADA. His father signed that act into law." But groups of advocates for the disabled, seniors, labor and others are closely watching the Bush administration for signs of how supportive it will be of their various causes. And many of the more liberal groups do not like what they see so far. As a result, they are bracing for battle. They are recruiting more people to work at the grass-roots level, creating or beefing up lobbying arms, and -- like the disability rights groups -- becoming involved in lawsuits that could set precedents. "I think you'll see battles royale in court," said one former Clinton Justice Department lawyer who is now in private practice and asked that his name not be used. "When the advocacy group and the administration basically agree, all of the fighting is within the family. . . . When [they disagree], all of the real action is in court." For example, earlier this year, the AARP Foundation Litigation, an affiliate of AARP, a nonprofit advocacy group for people over 50, joined the legal battle against companies that force employees to sign agreements waiving their right to sue for employment discrimination. The group worried that these agreements would hurt older workers in particular. Until a recent Supreme Court ruling, the lower courts had not been consistent in deciding the legality of these agreements. The liberal Alliance for Justice, a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's and other advocacy organizations, is trying to boost its grass-roots efforts. It's also creating a spinoff organization "that will give us a lot more leverage to lobby and really bring our issues full force to [Capitol] Hill," said Bernstein, spokeswoman for the Alliance. Already, several groups -- including the AFL-CIO, an umbrella group for more than 60 unions -- are preparing briefs to submit in favor of the worker in the Toyota case. That case, which the Supreme Court will address this fall, deals with the scope of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which protects people with disabilities from various forms of discrimination, including on the job. Ella , an assembly-line worker at a Toyota plant in Kentucky, claims in the lawsuit that she developed carpal tunnel syndrome from her job. She alleged that the company fired her in violation of the ADA when she refused a different job that would still require her to perform some manual labor. Toyota claimed that it tried to accommodate and that she should not be considered legally disabled anyway because she was unable to perform only some tasks. An appeals court sided with , and the company appealed to the Supreme Court. The brief filed by the Justice Department does not address whether is disabled. It simply contends that the lower court erred in the way it decided that she was. Imparato of the American Association of People With Disabilities said his organization does not dispute the facts of the brief. But he called the administration's overt support of Toyota "unusual" and a departure from the Clinton era. "We want to make sure they go to bat for the ADA in the same way that the Clinton administration . . . went to bat for the ADA," he said, adding that Clinton had a far-from-perfect record on supporting the law. To that end, the association has stepped up its activism efforts and become more litigious. Two months ago, it launched a project to protect the voting rights of the disabled. It has since sued several jurisdictions that have purchased voting equipment that is ill-equipped to handle, for example, the needs of blind voters. "If the Justice Department were more active on that issue, we wouldn't have to do that," Imparato said. Imparato's group has also been active in opposing several of Bush's federal court nominees who they claim take too narrow a view of who should receive protection under federal disability laws. Imparato said he hasn't lost hope, however. He and others point out that the Justice Department has filed at least one other brief that supported the disabled party in a lawsuit. In addition, a few people were recently surprised to be invited into the White House to talk about their concerns with administration officials during a march on the White House by several hundred activists. "There's a mixed message. . . . This administration has demonstrated support," said Marcie Roth, director of advocacy and public policy for the National Council on Independent Living, an Arlington-based organization for the disabled. "We remain ever vigilant."

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44656-2001Aug7.html