Judge Thompson: ADA Title II Doesn't Validly Abrogate Sovereign Immunity in Employment

Answering a question technically left open by the Supreme Court's decision in Board of Trustees v. Garrett, Judge Myron Thompson (one of our greatest judges) of the Middle District of Alabama held Monday that Title II of the ADA does not validly abrogate state sovereign immunity in cases involving employment. The case is Leverette v. Alabama Revenue Dept., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2006 WL 2730431 (M.D.Ala., Sept. 25, 2006). The key analysis, which is hard to disagree with, is: "it would be illogical to find that history of state discrimination against the disabled in employment is insufficient to permit Congress to enact Title I, but that that same history is somehow sufficient to allow Congress to fashion Title II."