Press Releases: 2000 Releases

UCP Marches to Save the ADA

Contact: Michelle Sullivan
Phone: 202-776-0406

Washington, DC, October 3, 2000—UCP Affiliate Executive Directors, Board Members and National staff will join thousands of people with disabilities and their families in a march to the Supreme Court today. This event, the "March for Justice," will highlight national support for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Next week, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear University of Alabama v. Garrett. This case questions whether Congress exceeded its authority by allowing individuals to sue states in federal court for disability discrimination. If the Supreme Court says Congress did, individuals may no longer be able to enforce Titles I and II of the ADA against the states. More importantly, a negative ruling could call into question altogether the constitutionality of Title II of the ADA, as well as other disability rights statutes.

Garrett is the latest in a series of cases in which states have challenged Congress' power to enact legislation regulating state conduct. Most recently, the Supreme Court held in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents that Congress did not have the authority to apply the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) to the states. The Court found that the substantive requirements of the ADEA are "disproportionate to any unconstitutional conduct that conceivably could be targeted by the Act" and that extension of the ADEA to the states was an "unwarranted response to a perhaps inconsequential problem." In Garrett, the state of Alabama will be urging the Supreme Court to reach the same conclusion about the ADA.

"In the year marking the 10th Anniversary of the ADA, it would be devastating to watch portions of this landmark law evaporate before our eyes. Overall, the intent of the ADA was to open doors and level the playing field for people with disabilities. UCP is fully committed to that goal," says Kirsten A. Nyrop, Executive Director of UCP. "UCP will remain vigilant in protecting the rights of people with disabilities in the face of attempts to weaken the law through lawsuits and legislation."

UCP is actively involved in the outcome of Garrett and is part of a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court regarding this critical case. UCP and its nationwide network of 135 affiliates strive to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in every facet of society - from the Web to the workplace, from the classroom to the community. The mission of UCP is to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, through our commitment to the principles of independence, inclusion and self-determination.

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