People with Disabilities Stand Together to 'Stop Sutton'
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 5/6/2003
Disability rights organizations from across the nation banded together on National Disability Lobby Day to oppose the U.S. Senate confirmation of Jeffrey Sutton, who has been nominated by President Bush to become a federal court judge on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.Sutton's extremism - particularly his aggressive efforts to weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act, a landmark piece of legislation that protects the civil rights of more than 57 million Americans with physical and mental disabilities - has generated intense opposition to his confirmation from literally hundreds of national, state, and local organizations.
People with disabilities joined seniors, advocates for the environment, women's rights groups and social justice organizations on Capitol Hill to hear Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), author of the ADA Act of 1990, voice his concern about the nomination of the judge, who seeks to weaken and eliminate vital federal protections.
"The nomination of Jeffrey Sutton has brought to light significant issues related to his legal philosophy. Of primary concern is Mr. Sutton's limited view of Congress's authority to enact legislation meant to protect the civil and other rights afforded this country's citizens," said Senator Harkin.
Also present at the 'Stop Sutton' event was Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation's oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition.
"Jeffrey Sutton is the latest and most extreme example of President Bush's assault on the power of Congress to vindicate the rights of women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and many others", says Henderson.
Sutton has actively sought participation in numerous cases in which he has attempted to limit Congress's power to protect civil rights. In October of 2001, his arguments before the Supreme Court persuaded its conservative majority to rule, in a 5-4 decision in Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, that Congress had no power to allow state employees to sue their employers for damages under Title I of the ADA
The National Council on Independent Living warns that if Sutton's ideology prevails, state governments would be free to exclude people with disabilities from their programs and services without fear of having to compensate them.
