Disabling the ADA, One Nominee at a Time

See this op-ed by that title in the San Francisco Chronicle. The first couple of grafs:

In 1990, the first President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and proclaimed, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."

Fifteen years later, George W. Bush is apparently rebuilding that wall by undermining the ADA through judicial appointments. Bush is nominating judges who are outspoken, if not radical, in their opposition to the ADA and the protections for people with disabilities. In an ironic Republican twist, if these judges had their way, civil rights for people with disabilities would regress, prohibiting full participation in society and putting more people with disabilities on government assistance.

A case in point is the nomination of Terrence W. Boyle to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. His confirmation hearings in Washington begin this week before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sits. Were Boyle to be confirmed, it would further erode the protections people with disabilities have enjoyed under the ADA.