The ADA and the Supreme Court: A Mixed Record

According to conventional wisdom, the Supreme Court has resisted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at every turn. The Court, the story goes, has read the statute extremely narrowly and, as a result, stripped away key protections that Congress intended to provide. Its departure from congressional intent, indeed, was so extreme that Congress passed a statute that overturned several key decisions and codified broad statutory protections. That statute, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). passed with widespread bipartisan support, and President George W. Bush signed it into law. The conventional wisdom leaves out a major part of the story. The Supreme Court has, in fact, read the ADA narrowly in interpreting the class of persons with disabilities protected by the statute, although it has not had a chance to revisit the issue since Congress passed the ADAAA. Indeed, one of the Court\u27s key decisions has helped transform state Medicaid programs to focus more fundamentally on providing services to people with disabilities in their own homes and communities