The Disability Docket

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2023

Abstract

The monumental changes emanating from the contemporary Supreme Court have now generated abundant commentary—but it remains possible to glean new insights if we review the Court’s work from an alternative perspective, one that does not often inform mainstream accounts. Drawing on insights from Disability Legal Studies and. other critical approaches to law, as well as from the trenches of disability advocacy and civil litigation, this Article applies a “disability lens” to the Supreme Court’s 2021 and 2022 Terms. Our review of the Court’s published decisions and. broader docket suggests three themes. We highlight (1) the role of disability cases in the retrenchment of civil rights, (2) the vast and underappreciated effects that certain “non-disability” cases are likely to have on people with disabilities, and (3) the difficult choices that disability law litigators and. advocates face when disability law cases end up before this Court. Throughout, the Article, we suggest, legal areas that, would benefit from further examination through a “disability lens.”

Publication Title

American University Law Review

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