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gretchen
Moderator
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Posted: Wed May 18th, 2005 06:57 pm |
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-----Original Message-----
From: owner-justice@jfanow.org [mailto:owner-justice@jfanow.org] On Behalf Of Justice For All Moderator
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 7:26 AM
To: justice@jfanow.org
Subject: Disability Rights Advocates Blast Pryor Vote
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thurs. May 12, 2005
CONTACT: Jim Ward of ADA Watch, (202) 415-4753 OR Chris Burley of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, (202) 467-5730 x 133
Disability Rights Advocates Blast Pryor Vote
WASHINGTON, DCNational advocacy groups for Americans with disabilities today responded with disappointment to the Senate Judiciary Committees
10-8 vote to advance William Pryors nomination to the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. ADA Watch/NCDR coalition partners opposed to Pryor include Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, National Council on Independent Living, National Association of the Deaf, American Association of People with Disabilities, World Association of Persons with Disabilities, National Disabled Student Union, and many others.
"Fifteen years ago, Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Jim Ward, president of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights." Todays party-line vote is a sad betrayal of those bipartisan efforts. William Pryor has been one of the chief architects of an ongoing assault on the ADA and its protections for the rights of tens of millions of Americans with disabilities."
Pryor successfully argued in the Garrett v. Board of Trustees of Univ. of Alabama Supreme Court case to limit dramatically application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to employment discrimination.
Patricia Garrett, and thousands more, lost the right to seek monetary damages from their employers for discrimination on the basis of disability. Pryors reasoning in the case has been used in subsequent attempts to further limit the ADAs scope and enforcement.
"Pryors approval is disappointing, but the real test will be what happens on the Senate floor," said Jennifer Mathis, senior staff attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a national legal advocate for the rights of people with mental disabilities. "His efforts in Garrett and other cases have made it increasingly difficult for people with disabilities to enforce their rights in the courts. If the Senate doesnt stand up soon to the rising tide of judicial activism against disability rights, you can wave goodbye to the basic protections the Americans with Disabilities Act and other bedrock civil rights laws have to offer."
The Eleventh Circuit, where Pryor would serve if confirmed, is made up of Florida, Georgia and Alabama. More than 3.6 million people with disabilities live in these states, according to U.S. Census data.
Nationally, between 40 million and 60 million Americans have a disability, according to the National Council on Disability.
For more information on Bill Pryors record on disability rights, see http://www.bazelon.org/judicialnominations/pryor.htm.
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ADA Watch is a project of the National Coalition for Disability Rights, an alliance of hundreds of disability, civil rights, and social justice organizations united to defend and promote the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the human rights of children and adults with physical, mental, cognitive and developmental disabilities.
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.
National Coalition for Disability Rights
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 300
Washington, District of Columbia 20004
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