COPAA Files Amicus Brief in U.S. Supreme Court Urging the Reversal of Intent Standard

COPAA Files Amicus Brief in U.S. Supreme Court Urging the Reversal of Intent Standard in Disability Discrimination Claims Brought by Public School Students

Earlier this month, COPAA and several other advocacy groups filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a family of child with disabilities, urging the Court to hear the case A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools. In this case, the family has petitioned the Court to take up their case and reverse the decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit earlier this year on their claims under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

At the heart of this case is the “bad faith or gross misjudgment” standard applied by several circuit courts of appeals to ADA and 504 claims brought by families of children who are also eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). Since 1982, the Eighth Circuit has required families to prove that school districts acted with intent—specifically, bad faith or gross misjudgment—in discriminating against IDEA-eligible students in order to prevail on ADA and 504 claims. This very high standard does not apply to claims brought by plaintiffs alleging disability discrimination in other contexts with respect to colleges, other public entities under Title II, or public accommodations under Title III of the ADA.

As COPAA and its fellow amici argue in the brief, this high intent standard does not appear in and conflicts with the text of the ADA and Section 504; and the standard conflicts with other U.S. Supreme Court precedent and with 20 U.S.C. § 1415(l) of the IDEA, which states that families’ rights under the IDEA do not restrict the rights available under the ADA, Section 504, or other federal laws. 

As COPAA noted in its brief, this month the United States filed a Statement of Interest in Robertson v. District of Columbia, also asserting that “courts are not empowered to rewrite a statute to require an element of bad faith or gross misjudgment that Congress did not impose.”

Joining COPAA on the brief are the National Center for Youth Law, National Disability Rights Network, Learning Rights Law Center, and Education Law Center.  COPAA Legal Director Selene Almazan and board member Ellen Saideman wrote the amicus brief. COPAA member Amy J. Goetz, founder of the School Law Center in Minnesota, represents the family in this case.