FYI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information contact: May 8, 2001 Joe Hall 843-237-4003
Daniel Davis 510-664-3216
Sarah Triano 773-463-4776
NATIONAL DISABLED STUDENTS UNION URGES BUSH TO RECONSIDER SUTTON NOMINATION
In a May 8, 2001 letter to President Bush, representatives of the National Disabled Students Union (NDSU) stated, ìWe would like to call to your attention an issue that is vital in preserving the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which your father is greatly admired for having advocated and signed into law. We urge you to reconsider your administrationís reported nomination of Jeffrey Sutton, Esq. to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, since it would be very damaging to the rights of over 54 million Americans with disabilities.î
The National Disabled Students Union is a young and fast-growing cross-disability student organization that already has representation at almost 100 colleges, universities, high schools and elementary schools throughout the USA. The NDSU was founded on February 21, 2001 in response to the US Supreme Court decision in Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama et al. v. Garrett et al, which limited the enforcement of Title I of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. To raise awareness about the erosion of civil rights by the Supreme Court, the NDSU sponsored a nationwide ìCampaign for Equal Justiceî on April 17, 2001, to send a strong message to the Court that ìthe peopleís right to equality comes before the ëstatesí rightí to discriminate.î
The May 8th letter to President Bush, tri-authored by NDSU National Coordinators Sarah Triano and Daniel Davis, and Legislative Coordinator, Joseph Hall, states that, ìThe National Disabled Students Union recognizes and appreciates your campaignís promise to affirm and expand the rights of people with disabilities.î In the letter, the NDSU acknowledged the Department of Justiceís support for the rights of disabled people as expressed in the DOJís amicus brief in Garcia v. State University of New York Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, and commended the Bush Administration for its announcement of the New Freedom Initiative plan.
ìWe would like to extend an arm of appreciation and ask that you not to stop here,î the letter states. ìWe need your help in preserving your fatherís accomplishment. Jeffrey Sutton is vocally opposed to the Americans with Disabilities Act. He represented the University of Alabama in University of Alabama v. Garrett. His victory in this case severely weakened the Americans with Disabilities Act, by undermining the anti-discrimination protections of persons with disabilities working for state employers. Despite the long history of state discrimination against people with disabilities and the fact that states like Alabama have disability rights laws that have been found by courts to lack any enforcement provisions, Sutton claimed that the ADA is altogether unnecessary. According to Page 11 of the Garrett oral argument transcript, from October of 2000, when a Supreme Court Justice asked Mr. Sutton if the Garrett case just applied to employment aspects of the ADA, Sutton replied, ëWell, Your Honor, itís a challenge to the ADA across the board.íî
An Associated Press article published in the New York Times on May 8, 2001 implies that the Sutton nomination is uncontroversial. The NDSU letter vehemently disagrees, stating that the nomination of Jeffrey Sutton ìwould constitute a step in the wrong direction, and would send a message to the disability rights community and the National Disabled Students Union that would adversely impact your administrationís future relationship with these groups. To be consistent with your fatherís distinguished legacy for widening the circle of inclusion and your honorable commitments to the disabled community, we respectfully urge you to make the right decision and withdraw the Sutton nomination.î
The National Disabled Students Union maintains a web site at HYPERLINK "http://www.disabledstudents.org" www.disabledstudents.org
and can be reached at the contact information listed above.
Nathan Newman wrote:
>
> PLEASE FORWARD TO POLITICAL ALLIES AND PROGRESSIVE LISTS!
>
> ===============================================
> MOBILIZE AGAINST BUSH RIGHTWING "COURT PACKING"
> ===============================================
>
> The National Lawyers Guild, May 9, 2001
>
> Contact: Nathan Newman, NLG Judicial Nominations Chair
> nathan at newman.org (203) 777-9704
> Heidi Bogosian, NLG Executive Director
> director at nlg.org (212) 627-2566
>
> snipp