PVA Asks Tennessee to Reconsider the Lane Appeal. 

PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA 801 Eighteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006

TITLE: TENNESSEE v. LANE 
RESOLUTION ID NUMBER: 03-A-O-1 
SUBMITTED BY: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 
STATUS: PASSED AS AMENDED 
YEAR: 2003

WHEREAS, PVA supports the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, “…to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability”; and

WHEREAS, PVA supports the specific goal of Title II of the ADA that: “No qualified individual with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of public entity, or be subjected to discrimination of any individuals with disabilities”; and

WHEREAS, PVA supports the “integration mandate” of Title II of the ADA: “A public entity shall administer services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities”; and

WHEREAS, George Lane, a single above-the-knee amputee, was summoned to appear in court and forced to crawl his way up two flights of stairs in a courthouse with no elevator or other accommodations required by the ADA. At a second hearing, he refused to again crawl up two flights of stairs. Lane notified the judge that he was downstairs and was arrested for not appearing in court; and

WHEREAS, Beverly Jones, a court reporter who is a paraplegic, is repeatedly denied opportunity to work in county courthouses because of lack of wheelchair accessibility; and

WHEREAS, Lane and Jones successfully sued the state of Tennessee under Title II of the ADA. The state of Tennessee appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the state is shielded from a key provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act by the constitutional principle of “sovereign immunity”; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari and will hear Tennessee v. Lane in its next session.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Paralyzed Veterans of America asks the state of Tennessee to reconsider its appeal of Tennessee v. Lane. The issues that Tennessee seeks through the appeal should not be resolved at the expense of the cherished rights of citizens with disabilities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Paralyzed Veterans of America encourages other state governments not to sign on in support of Tennessee v. Lane.