United States Department of Transportation v. Paralyzed Veterans of America

477 U.S. 597 (1986)

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United States Department of Transportation v. Paralyzed Veterans of America

United States Supreme Court
477 U.S. 597 (1986)

  • Written by Alexander Hager-DeMyer, JD

Facts

Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provided that no otherwise qualified disabled person could be discriminated against based solely on his disability under programs receiving federal financial assistance. The statute did not provide for administrative agencies to implement the provision, and the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation (DOT) (defendant) worked together to create proposed rules for implementing § 504. The DOT attempted to apply § 504 to all commercial airlines, regardless of which airlines actually received federal subsidies and funding. The Paralyzed Veterans of America and other interest groups (plaintiffs) filed suit against the DOT over the content of the regulations. Through the appeals process, the case was sent to the United States Supreme Court, which granted certiorari to determine the narrow question of whether § 504 applied to all commercial airlines as recipients of federal financial assistance.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Powell, J.)

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