Day in Court for Americans with Disabilities
Protests Planned Over Supreme Court's ADA Rulings
In March 1990, members of ADAPT -- American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit -- crawled up the Capitol steps to lobby for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tom Olin hide caption
The Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday about a man who was arrested for failing to appear in a Tennessee court. The courthouse had no elevator, so George Lane, a paraplegic, refused to crawl or be carried up the steps.
In support of Lane, a group of disabled people plans to leave their wheelchairs behind and crawl up the marble steps of the high court. As NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports, their protest has a larger message: They want the Supreme Court to ease up on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Several recent decisions by the court have sharply cut back the scope of the ADA.