News Release

NCD #02-394
December 16, 2002
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov

National Council on Disability Examines Language and Legislative History of Americans with Disabilities Act

WASHINGTON--The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released Broad or Narrow Construction of the ADA, the fourth addition to the ongoing policy brief series analyzing and responding to certain problematic aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Broad or Narrow Construction of the ADA (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/broadnarrowconstruction.html) examines the language and legislative history of the ADA, and the legal principles in place at the time it was enacted, to determine what information can be found there regarding how narrowly or broadly Congress intended the definition of disability in the ADA to be construed, and to ascertain whether the Supreme Court's narrow construction of the definition is consistent or at odds with the statutory language, legislative history, and previously recognized legal principles.

In future papers in this series, NCD will examine various specific substantive aspects of the Court's rulings that have weakened or restricted the impact of the ADA. Another major area to be addressed concerns constitutional limits on the power of Congress to enact disability rights laws such as the ADA and other civil rights legislation.

NCD plans to address some limitations the Court has imposed on the remedies available in ADA cases and take a cross-issue look at the consequences of the Supreme Court's decisions by contrasting the state of the law before the decisions were rendered with the legal situation after the decisions, to identify undesirable and unjust results in the decisions of the lower courts as a result of the Supreme Court's rulings. NCD will also summarize instances of unaddressed discrimination and injustices stemming from the Court's rulings that do not result in reported court decisions.

NCD will then develop legislative proposals for addressing those issues that appear appropriate for legislative correction, and present those proposals, along with pertinent supportive material from the previous papers in a final, comprehensive report Righting the ADA.