Tag: Americans with Disabilities Act

Biden DOJ Sues Tennessee over Enforcement of Law with Higher Penalties for Prostitutes with HIV

Tom Pappert
Kristen Clarke

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday launched a lawsuit against Tennessee over the enforcement of a 1991 law that increases prostitution penalties for individuals who knowingly engage in the illegal practice while testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

According to a press release by the DOJ, Tennessee’s law prohibiting aggravated prostitution violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by enforcing legislation “against people living with” HIV, citing their December letter that warned of forthcoming litigation unless Tennessee stopped enforcing its law.

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DOJ Joins ACLU In Attacking Tennessee over Law Meant to Stop Spread of HIV

Peter D'Abrosca
Gay Couple

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that the enforcement of a Tennessee law meant to prevent the knowing spread of HIV violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law is outdated, has no basis in science, discourages testing and further marginalizes people living with HIV,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to a DOJ press release. “People living with HIV should not be treated as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives solely because of their HIV status. The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are protected from discrimination.”

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Dem-Appointed Judge Opens the Door to More Men Being Housed in Women’s Prisons

Admin

A Democrat-appointed federal judge opened the door to allowing more males to be housed in women’s prisons Tuesday by ruling that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers people with gender dysphoria.

Kesha Williams, a biologically male former inmate who identifies as a transgender woman, sued several people associated with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Virginia for allegedly violating the ADA in their decision to house Williams with men, according to court documents. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee, sided with Williams and rejected a lower court’s dismissal of the initial lawsuit.

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Parents File Ethics Complaints Against Knox County Board of Education Members in Battle Against End to School Mask Mandate

Susan Berry, PhD

A Knox County Schools (KCS) parent group fighting the end of school mask mandates has filed an ethics complaint against three members of the school board, alleging they violated one of the board’s own policies and also appeared at a Knox County Commission meeting without giving adequate public notice.

Parent Amanda Collins, who chairs Knox County Schools Parent Advocates for School Safety (KCS PASS), said in a press statement KCS board members Betsy Henderson, Susan Horn, and Kristi Kristy violated the board’s policy when they submitted a proposal to the Knox County Commission to hire private attorneys to help in the board’s fight against a lawsuit over masks in schools.

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Ohio State University Dodges Questions on Multi-Million Dollar Diversity Bureaucracy

Peter D'Abrosca
Ben Johnson

Ohio State University (OSU) was not very forthcoming Tuesday after the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Mark J. Perry posted a report detailing the school’s spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats. 

According to the report, Perry claims that OSU has 132 staffers in administration roles focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), costing the Ohio taxpayer more than $13 million per year. 

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Federal Injunction Against Tennessee’s COVID-19 Mask Law Makes No Specific Claims About Americans with Disabilities Act

Chris Butler

A federal judge halted a new Tennessee law that prohibits COVID-19 mask mandates in schools on the basis that it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but the language of the law shows otherwise.

That judge, Waverly Crenshaw, presides over the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

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Tennessee Stands Warns Federal Judges Encroaching on Basic Liberties Regarding COVID-19 Mandates

Chris Butler

Members of the Williamson County-based Tennessee Stands said rulings coming down from U.S. District Courts regarding what they call unlawful mandates, particularly those coming from Tennessee, prove “that reasoning has lost and politics wins the day.” Federal courts have cited the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in saying that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s Executive Order 84 that gives parents the right to opt out of school mask mandates is unlawful. The courts say the mandate prevents schools from providing reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities.

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1990 Federal Law Will Cost Gallatin Taxpayers $5.5 Million

Chris Butler

Gallatin officials will spend $5.5 million of taxpayer money to satisfy the requirements of the nearly 30-year-old federal Americans With Disabilities Act. JamiAnn Hannah, risk manager for the city attorney’s office, told The Tennessee Star taxpayers will pay for the changes “because it’s the right thing to do.” She also said if it doesn’t get done then the city stands to lose a substantial chunk of state and federal grant money. Hannah said she wasn’t a Gallatin employee in 1990, when the law went into effect. She said she doesn’t know why city officials didn’t work back then to comply. When asked, Hannah said the changes are not urgent and that she and other city officials help the disabled, regardless of government mandates. “I haven’t had any complaints per se (about compliance with the law). No one has come in and said ‘That cabinet is too high. I can’t see anything that is going on.’ We always accommodate, and that is one of the things we continue to strive to do and do currently,” Hannah said. “If I can’t see someone because there is a counter in my way then I will move that counter, I will go to that…

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