Attorney General Jeff Session's Department of Justice just dropped its appeal of a key disability rights case, causing fear among the disabled community and their advocates that "a systematic weakening of the federal law has begun." The suit involves a sheriff's deputy, Emily Hall, in Richmond Virginia, who had heart surgery in 2012 and was unable to return to work in her old position. The sheriff's department advised her to apply for a different job, and when she did, she wasn't hired.
Hall sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act on the grounds that the department failed to accommodate her disability and the Obama justice department signed on. When a federal judge ruled against Hall, the Justice Department appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of appeals. Now the Trump administration is dropping the appeal.
Top officials who worked in the Civil Rights Division under Obama say that may be an ominous sign—an indicator that Sessions' Justice Department may be far less aggressive in defending the rights of people with disabilities than President Barack Obama's. They fear the dismissal could be the beginning of a shift away from the prior administration's energetic stance.
"I'm very pessimistic," said Sam Bagenstos, who was second-in-command in the Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration. "I think this administration is likely to slow down very substantially their enforcement of the ADA. But I'd like to be proven wrong." […]
"It's unfortunate and worrisome that the Civil Rights Division, having come this far, chose to suddenly withdraw its appeal from this terribly reasoned decision," said Sasha Samberg-Champion, formerly a top attorney in the division during Obama's presidency. "With the division currently staking out retrograde positions on LGBT issues, racial diversity in education, and elsewhere, disability rights advocates are watching closely to see whether the division will continue to forcefully protect the rights of people with disabilities such as Ms. Hall. The decision not to pursue her case further is grounds for concern."
Business groups are likely to be cheered by this development. Karen Harned, an attorney at the National Federation of Independent Businesses, tells the Daily Beast "It's good to see that they're not trying to push a theory that has already been rejected by other courts," meaning a theory that businesses have a legal obligation to continue to employ their workers who become disabled while on the job. […] If a statute doesn't say it clearly, small business owners shouldn't be held to these new crazy theories." Never mind that in this case it's a public job and not a small business. But if you're the NFIB, everything is a small business—including corporations with hundreds of employees and, apparently, local government.
Trump himself has been sued numerous times for discriminating against employees with disabilities, so these guys certainly have an ally in the White House. Given Sessions' hostility to every kind of minority, the disabled community has reason to be very concerned.