UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

BETSY Y. RESTO ORTIZ, ET AL.

Plaintiffs,

vs.

COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, ET AL.

Defendants.	)

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NO. 02-CV-1282 (DRD)

UNITED STATES' MEMORANDUM REGARDING WHETHER THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT BARS THE PLAINTIFFS FROM SEEKING INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AND DAMAGES AGAINST PUERTO RICO UNDER TITLE II OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT; SECTION 504 OF THE REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973; INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES IN EDUCATION ACT

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs brought this action seeking injunctive relief and damages for the alleged failure of defendants to comply with an order by an Administrative Judge to provide a sign language interpreter for the student Betsy Y. Resto Ortiz. Although the Complaint is unclear, it appears that plaintiffs seek monetary and injunctive relief pursuant to three separate federal statutes: Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794 [Section 504]; and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, 20 U.S.C.1400 et seq [IDEA]. Defendants have moved to dismiss this action on the basis that Puerto Rico's Eleventh Amendment immunity bars the plaintiffs' claims under each of these statutes. The Court has requested the United States to address defendants' claims.1 The United States asserts here, as it has asserted in other Courts, that the Eleventh Amendment is not a bar to an individual claim made pursuant to these three statutes, and this case can go forward on the merits. However, before proceeding to our arguments, we address a preliminary matter.

At the present time, pending before the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is the case Badillo Santiago v. Andreu Garcia (No. 01-2640), which concerns one of the issues before this Court: whether the statutory provision removing Eleventh Amendment immunity for suits under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq., is a valid exercise of Congress's authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. In as much as that question is now before the Court of Appeals, we respectfully suggest that it would be appropriate to wait until the Court of Appeals issues its decision in that case. If the Court of Appeals holds that Title II contains a valid abrogation of Eleventh Amendment immunity, this Court will not need to consider plaintiffs' claims under the Rehabilitation Act and IDEA. If, on the other hand, the Court holds that Title II of the ADA is not a valid exercise of Congress's authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, then this Court can determine whether plaintiffs may proceed under the Rehabilitation Act and/or IDEA.

Because the validity of the Title II's abrogation will be resolved by the Court of Appeals, in this brief we address first the question of whether Puerto Rico has waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity to suits brought under Section 504 and IDEA by accepting federal funds.

ARGUMENT

I. THE REHABILITATION ACT AND IDEA ARE EACH A VALID EXERCISE OF CONGRESS'S AUTHORITY UNDER THE SPENDING CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION.

The Eleventh Amendment does not bar Plaintiffs' IDEA claims and Rehabilitation Act claims because defendants have waived their sovereign immunity by accepting federal funds. As demonstrated below, pursuant to the Spending Clause of the Constitution, Art. I, § 8, Cl. 1, Congress has the authority to condition its spending on a waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity; for both IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act, Congress has enacted a clear statement that accepting federal funds would constitute a waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity; and the Rehabilitation Act and IDEA are each a valid exercise of the Spending Clause.2

A. Congress Has Authority to Condition the Receipt of Federal Financial Assistance on the State Waiving its Eleventh Amendment Immunity

A State can waive its immunity either by State statute or constitutional provision or "by otherwise waiving its immunity to suit in the context of a particular federal program." Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 238 n.1 (1985). Accord College Sav. Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsec. Educ. Expense Bd., 527 U.S. 666, 674 (1999) (States are free to waive their Eleventh Amendment immunity). Under the second method of waiver, a State may "by its participation in the program authorized by Congress . . . in effect consent[] to the abrogation of that immunity." Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 672 (1974). The Supreme Court recently restated this maxim in Florida Prepaid:

[W]e have held . . .that Congress may, in the exercise of its spending power, condition its grant of funds to the States upon their taking certain actions that Congress could not require them to take, and that acceptance of the funds entails an agreement to the actions. . . . Congress has no obligation to use its Spending Clause power to disburse funds to the States; such funds are gifts.

527 U.S. at 686. See also New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 168 (1992) (attachment of conditions to grants made under the Spending Clause is a permissible method of encouraging a State to conform to federal policy choices.")

"For a federal statute to produce a waiver of a State's immunity through the State's participation in a federal spending program," however, "the statute must provide a clear expression of Congress's 'intent to condition participation in the program[] . . . on a State's consent to waive its constitutional immunity.'" Bradley v. Arkansas Dep't of Educ., 189 F.3d 745, 753 (8th Cir. 1999) (upholding State's waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity under IDEA), rev'd in part on other grounds, Jim C. v. United States, 235 F.3d 1079 (8th Cir. 2000) (upholding waiver of State's Eleventh Amendment immunity under the Rehabilitation Act), cert. denied sub nom. Arkansas Dep't of Educ. v. Jim C., 121 S. Ct. 2591 (June 29, 2001).

Thus, Congress may condition (and in this case has conditioned) the receipt of federal funds on defendants' waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity to Section 504 claims and IDEA claims.

B. 42 U.S.C. 2000d-7 Validly Removes Eleventh Amendment Immunity for Private Claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794(a), prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities under "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Section 2000d-7 of Title 42 abrogates the states' Eleventh Amendment immunity to suits brought under Section 504. Section 2000d-7 provides that a "State shall not be immune under the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States from suit in Federal court for a violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [29 U.S.C. 794], title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 * * * [and] title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Section 2000d-7 is a valid exercise of Congress's power under the Spending Clause, Art. I, § 8, Cl. 1, to prescribe conditions for state agencies that voluntarily accept federal financial assistance.3

1. Section 2000d-7 Is A Clear Statement That Accepting Federal Financial Assistance Would Constitute A Waiver To Private Suits Brought Under Section 504

Section 2000d-7 was enacted in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234. In Atascadero, the Court held that Congress had not provided sufficiently clear statutory language to remove States' Eleventh Amendment immunity for Section 504 claims and reaffirmed that "mere receipt of federal funds" was insufficient to constitute a waiver. 473 U.S. at 246. But the Court stated that if a statute "manifest[ed] a clear intent to condition participation in the programs funded under the Act on a State's waiver of its constitutional immunity," the federal courts would have jurisdiction over States that accepted federal funds. Id. at 247.

Section 2000d-7 makes unambiguously clear that Congress intended States to be amenable to suit in federal court under Section 504 (and the other federal non-discrimination statutes tied to federal financial assistance) if they accepted federal funds.4 Any state agency reading the U.S. Code would have known that after the effective date of Section 2000d-7 it could be sued in federal court for violations of Section 504 if it accepted federal funds. Section 2000d-
7 thus embodies exactly the type of unambiguous condition discussed by the Court in Atascadero, putting States on express notice that part of the "contract" for receiving federal funds was the condition that they consent to suit in federal court for alleged violations of Section 504 for those agencies that received any financial assistance.5

State defendants suggest, without elaboration or support, that the waiver language in Section 2000d-7 is not a "clear declaration." See Defendants' Motion to Show Cause, filed April 3, 2002, at 27-28 [hereinafter, "Def. Mot"]. This suggestion is belied by the Supreme Court in Lane v. Peña, 518 U.S. 187, 200 (1996), where the Court acknowledged "the care with which Congress responded to our decision in Atascadero by crafting an unambiguous waiver of the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity" in Section 2000d-7. Likewise, the Fourth Circuit, after an extensive analysis of the text and structure of the Act, held in Litman v. George Mason Univ, 186 F.3d 544 554 (4th Cir. 1999) cert denied 528 U.S. 1181 (2000), that "Congress succeeded in its effort to codify a clear, unambiguous, and unequivocal condition of waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity in 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-7(a)(1)." Six other courts of appeals agree that the Section 2000d-7 language clearly manifests an intent to condition receipt of federal financial assistance on consent to waive Eleventh Amendment immunity. See Douglas v. California Dep't of Youth Auth., 271 F.3d 812, 820, opinion amended, 271 F.3d 910 (9th Cir. 2001) (Section 504); Nihiser v. Ohio E.P.A., 269 F.3d 626 (6th Cir. 2001) (Section 504), petition for cert. pending, No. 01-1357; Jim C. v. Arkansas Dep't of Educ., 235 F.3d 1079, 1081-1082 (8th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (Section 504), cert. denied, 533 U.S. 949 (2001); Stanley v. Litscher, 213 F.3d 340, 344 (7th Cir. 2000) (Section 504); Pederson v. Louisiana State Univ., 213 F.3d 858, 875-876 (5th Cir. 2000) (Title IX); Sandoval v. Hagan, 197 F.3d 484, 493-494 (11th Cir. 1999) (Title VI), rev'd on other grounds, 532 U.S. 275 (2001); Clark v. California, 123 F.3d 1267, 1271 (9th Cir. 1997) (Section 504), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 937 (1998).6

Defendants appear to suggest their waiver was not knowing and voluntary, relying on an isolated decision in Garcia v. SUNY Health Sciences Center, 280 F.3d 98, 113 (2d Cir. 2001). Def. Mot. at 31. In Garcia, the Second Circuit agreed with the other courts of appeals that Section 2000d-7 "constitutes a clear expression of Congress's intent to condition acceptance of federal funds on a state's waiver of its Eleventh Amendment immunity." Id. at 113. And it further agreed that, under normal circumstances, "the acceptance of funds conditioned on the waiver might properly reveal a knowing relinquishment of sovereign immunity." Id. at 114 n.4. However, Garcia held that the waiver was not knowing because the state agency did not "know" in 1995 (the latest point the alleged discrimination had occurred) that the abrogation in Title II of the Disabilities Act was not effective and thus would have thought (wrongly, in the view of the Second Circuit) that Title II's abrogation for Title II claims made the waiver for Section 504 redundant. Id. at 114. This conclusion about a knowing waiver is, in our view, incorrect. It is wrong because every state agency did know from the plain text of Section 2000d-7 from the time it was enacted in 1986 that acceptance of federal funds constituted a waiver of immunity to suit for violations of Section 504. Section 504 was not amended or altered by the enactment of Title II in 1990 and it was clear that plaintiffs could sue under either statute. See 42 U.S.C. 12201(b) (preserving existing causes of action). It is simply untenable to suggest that abrogation for suits under one statute is relevant to whether an entity waived its immunity to suits brought to enforce a distinct, albeit substantively similar, statute. Garcia's holding – that the waiver for Section 504 claims was effective until Title II went into effect and then lost its effectiveness until some point in the late 1990's and has now regained its full effectiveness – creates an unprecedented patchwork of effective coverage.7

Moreover, the Second Circuit's opinion makes clear that at the point when there is a "colorable basis for a state to suspect" that it had retained its immunity to suit, the waiver for Section 504 would be effective "because a state deciding to accept the funds would not be ignorant of the fact that it was waiving its possible claim to sovereign immunity." Id. at 114 n.4. The courts of appeals are thus in accord on this issue. Defendants do not deny – nor could they – that the Puerto Rico Department of Education accepted federal funds in 2001 – which is the time period when plaintiffs allege that it failed to comply with the Administrative Order in this case. See FN 3, supra at 5. Nor, given that Defendants were arguing to this very Court in Badillo-
Santiago in March, 2001 that Title II exceeds Congress's Section 5 powers, can they now argue that they were unaware in 2001 that Puerto Rico might be immune to suits under Title II of the ADA. Badillo-Santiago v. Andreu-Garcia, 167 F. Supp. 194, 196 (D. PR 2001). In sum, even if this Court adopted the minority holding in Garcia, which it should not, it would not be applicable in the instant case.

Finally, State defendants suggest, again without elaboration, that the Supreme Court's decisions in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, 528 U.S. 62 (2000) and Board of Trustees of the Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (2001), "change" the way this Court should evaluate whether Puerto Rico has waived its immunity in accepting Section 504 and IDEA funds. Def. Mot. at 30. This suggestion is misplaced because it ignores the obvious fact that those cases involved Congress' authority under Section 5, not, as here, the Spending Clause. Thus, the Court's analysis of Congress's authority under Section 5, is a separate and unrelated question from Congress's authority under the Spending Clause. As the Court in Litman recognized,

We do not read Seminole Tribe and its progeny, including the Supreme Court's recent Eleventh Amendment decisions, to preclude Congress from conditioning federal grants on a state's consent to be sued in federal court to enforce the substantive conditions of the federal spending program. Indeed, to do so would affront the Court's acknowledgment in Seminole Tribe of the "unremarkable... proposition that States may waive their sovereign immunity."

186 F.3d at 556 (quoting Seminole Tribe, 517 U.S. at 65). See also Pederson, 213 F.3d at 876 (same; decided after Garrett and Kimel); Douglas, 271 F.3d at 820 (same).

2.	Section 504 Is A Valid Exercise Of The Spending Power

The Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 210 (1987) identified four limitations on Congress's Spending Power. First, the Spending Clause by its terms requires that Congress legislate in pursuit of "the general welfare." 483 U.S. at 207. Second, if Congress conditions the States' receipt of federal funds, it "'must do so unambiguously * * *, enabling the States to exercise their choice knowingly, cognizant of the consequence of their participation.'" Ibid. (quoting Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 17 (1981)). Third, the Supreme Court's cases "have suggested (without significant elaboration) that conditions on federal grants might be illegitimate if they are unrelated 'to the federal interest in particular national projects or programs.'" Ibid. And fourth, the obligations imposed by Congress may not violate any independent constitutional provisions. Id. at 208. None of these limitations apply in this case.

1. First, the general welfare is served by prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities. See City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 443-444 (1985) (discussing Section 504 with approval). Indeed, Dole noted that the judicial deference to Congress is so substantial that there is some question "whether 'general welfare' is a judicially

enforceable restriction at all." 483 U.S. at 207 n.2.

2. The language of Section 2000d-7 and Section 504 alone make clear that the obligations it imposes are a condition on the receipt of federal financial assistance. See, e.g., Litman, 186 F.3d at 553-54. See discussion, supra at 6-8. Thus, the second Dole requirement is met. Moreover, Department of Education implementing regulations for Section 504 require that "an applicant for Federal financial assistance to which this part applies shall submit an assurance, on a form specified by the Assistant Secretary, that the program or activity will be operated in compliance with this part." 34 CFR 104.5

3. Section 504 meets the third Dole requirement as well. Section 504 furthers the federal interest in assuring that no federal funds are used to support, directly or indirectly, programs that discriminate or otherwise deny benefits and services on the basis of disability to qualified persons. Here, federal money that went to the Puerto Rico Department of Education was specifically for the free and appropriate education of children with disabilities. Thus, there can be no basis for defendants' suggestion that the federal grants are not related to the federal purpose.

Section 504's nondiscrimination requirement is patterned on Title VI and Title IX, which prohibit race and sex discrimination by "programs" that receive federal funds. See NCAA v. Smith, 525 U.S. 459, 466 n.3 (1999); Arline, 480 U.S. at 278 n.2. Both Title VI and Title IX have been upheld as valid Spending Clause legislation. In Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974), the Supreme Court held that Title VI, which the Court interpreted to prohibit a school district from ignoring the disparate impact its policies had on limited-English proficiency students, was a valid exercise of the Spending Power. "The Federal Government has power to fix the terms on which its money allotments to the States shall be disbursed. Whatever may be the limits of that power, they have not been reached here." Id. at 569 (citations omitted). The Court made a similar holding in Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 555 (1984). In Grove City, the Court addressed whether Title IX, which prohibits education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex, infringed on the college's First Amendment rights. The Court rejected that claim, holding that "Congress is free to attach reasonable and unambiguous conditions to federal financial assistance that educational institutions are not obligated to accept." Id. at 575. These cases stand for the proposition that Congress has an interest in preventing the use of its funds to support, directly or indirectly, programs that discriminate or otherwise deny benefits and services to qualified persons because of race, gender, and disability. Thus, compliance with Section 504 is a valid condition on the receipt of all federal financial assistance.

Because the interest in preventing discrimination extends to all federal funds, Congress drafted Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504 to apply across-the-board to all federal financial assistance. The purposes articulated by Congress in enacting Title VI, purposes equally attributable to Title IX and Section 504, were to avoid the need to attach nondiscrimination provisions each time a federal assistance program was before Congress, and to avoid "piecemeal" application of the nondiscrimination requirement if Congress failed to place the provision in each grant statute. See 110 Cong. Rec. 6544 (1964) (Sen. Humphrey); id. at 7061-7062 (Sen. Pastore); id. at 2468 (Rep. Celler); id. at 2465 (Rep. Powell). Certainly, there is no distinction of constitutional magnitude between a nondiscrimination provision attached to each appropriation and a single provision applying to all federal spending. Thus, a challenge to such a cross-cutting non-discrimination statute would fail.

4. Section 504 does not "induce the States to engage in activities that would themselves be unconstitutional." Dole, 483 U.S. at 210. Neither providing meaningful access to people with disabilities nor waiving sovereign immunity violates anyone's constitutional rights. The relevant state agency incurs these obligations only because it applies for and receives federal funds. "[T]he powers of the State are not invaded, since the statute imposes no obligation [to accept the funds] but simply extends an option which the State is free to accept or reject." Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 480 (1923). 8

B. Sections 1403 and 1415 of the IDEA Validly Remove Eleventh Amendment Immunity for Private Claims under IDEA.

The IDEA, originally enacted in 1970 as the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), Pub.L. No. 91-230, §§ 601-662, 84 Stat. 175, confers on disabled children a substantive right to a "free appropriate public education." 20 U.S.C. § 1400(c); see Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 308- 10, (1988). A free appropriate education "consists of educational instruction specially designed to meet the unique needs of the [disabled] child, supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child 'to benefit' from the instruction." Board of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 188-89 (1982). IDEA places on the states the primary responsibility for satisfying the goals of the statute. IDEA, described by several courts as a model of "cooperative federalism," see, e.g., Bernardsville Bd. of Educ. v. J.H., 42 F.3d 149, 151 (3d Cir.1994); Town of Burlington v. Dep't of Educ., 736 F.2d 773, 783 (1st Cir.1984), aff'd, 471 U.S. 359, 105 S.Ct. 1996, 85 L.Ed.2d 385 (1985), authorizes federal funding for states providing the special education that the statute requires, but funding is contingent on state compliance with its array of substantive and procedural requirements, 20 U.S.C. § 1412.

Under IDEA, Puerto Rico receives federal funds for education. By accepting these funds, Puerto Rico consents to be sued for violations of the IDEA. Section 1403 of the IDEA,

20 U.S.C. § 1403 (Section 1403), specifically conditions receipt of federal funds on a waiver of state sovereign immunity.9 Section 1403 reads in part: "A State shall not be immune under the eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States from suit in Federal Court for a violation of this chapter." Id. Section 1415(a) of the IDEA, 42 U.S.C. § 1415(a) provides that any state that receives financial assistance under the IDEA "shall establish and maintain certain procedures to ensure that children with disabilities and their parents are guaranteed procedural safeguards with respect to the provision of free appropriate public education." Specifically included among these procedures is the right to bring a civil action in federal court. 20 U.S.C. 1415 (i)(2). Sections 1403 and 1415 unequivocally and unambiguously condition receipt of Federal financial assistance under the IDEA on recipient States' waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity from IDEA suits. See Board of Educ. of Oak Park v. Kelly E., 207 F.3d 931, 935 (7th Cir. 1999), cert denied, 531 U.S. 824 (2000); Beth V. v. Carroll, 87 F.3d 80 (3d. Cir. 1996). By accepting federal IDEA funds, Puerto Rico has adopted this waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity.

1. Sections 1403 and 1415 of the IDEA Constitute a Clear Statement That By Accepting Federal Financial Assistance Under IDEA, Puerto Rico has Waived Immunity to Private Suits Brought Under IDEA.

Section 1403 was enacted in response to the Supreme Court's holding in Muth v. Dellmuth, 491 U.S. 223 (1989). In Muth, the Court concluded that the predecessor to the IDEA did not contain an adequately clear and unambiguous statement of Congress's intent to require a waiver of State sovereign immunity. Id. at 232. The following year, Congress responded by adopting 20 U.S.C. § 1403, "which makes express" its intent that State recipients of IDEA funding surrender their Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit. Beth V., 87 F.3d at 88. See also Lane v. Pena, 518 U.S. at 200 (1996) and supra at 7 (interpreting almost identical statutory language that was added to the Rehabilitation Act pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1986, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-7).

Since IDEA was amended, the circuit courts of appeal that have addressed this issue have held that States which accept funds pursuant to IDEA have waived their immunity to suit in federal court. See Board of Educ. of Oak Park v. Kelly E., 207 F.3d at 935. ("Although [IDEA] does not use words such as 'consent' or 'waiver,' it is hard to see why that should matter. Congress did what it could to ensure that States participating in the IDEA are amenable to suit in federal court."); Little Rock Sch. Dist. v. Mauney, 183 F.3d 816, 832 (8th Cir. 1999) (characterizing 20 U.S.C. § 1403 as "an unambiguous waiver of the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity").

In addition to § 1403, section 1415(i)(2) of the IDEA includes a provision explicitly authorizing lawsuits to enforce its provisions in State and federal court, further evidencing "Congress' view that private suits are integral to enforcement of IDEA."10 Beth V., 87 F.3d at 88 (authorizing suit against Pennsylvania Department of Education and citing 20 U.S.C. § 1415). Read in conjunction with § 1403, this explicit reference to private rights of action in the federal courts provides additional, explicit notice that Congress intended to provide IDEA monies only to States that waived their sovereign immunity. See Bradley, 189 F.3d at 753 ("When it enacted [20 U.S.C.] §§ 1403 and 1415, Congress provided a clear, unambiguous warning of its intent to condition State's participation in the IDEA program and its receipt of federal IDEA funds on the State's waiver of its immunity from suit in federal court on claims made under the IDEA").

IDEA is effective only when the State elects to receive federal funds. See Beth V., 87 F.3d at 82 (noting that IDEA has "been described by several courts as a model of 'cooperative federalism'" and recognizing that IDEA funding "is contingent on State compliance with its array of substantive and procedural requirements"); see also Bernardsville Bd. of Educ. v. J.H., 42 F.3d 149, 151 (3d Cir. 1994) (recognizing that it is only when an education agency "receives an allocation of funds under" IDEA that it "incurs the responsibility" to comply with IDEA's terms).

Thus, "the powers of the State are not invaded, since the statute imposes no obligation [to accept the funds] but simply extends an option which the State is free to accept or reject." Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 480 (1923). The documents from the U.S. Department of Education prove that Defendants have accepted federal funds for special education (IDEA funds) after the effective date of Section 1403. See FN 3, supra at 5. Accordingly, defendants have waived their Eleventh Amendment immunity to a suit under the IDEA. See Kelly E., 207 F.3d at 935 ("States that accept federal money [under the IDEA] . . . must respect the terms and conditions of the grant"). "Requiring States to honor the obligations voluntarily assumed as a condition of federal funding . . . simply does not intrude on their sovereignty." Bell v. New Jersey, 461 U.S. 773, 790 (1983).

The IDEA presented Puerto Rico with a clear choice: Either agree to waive Eleventh Amendment immunity for suits enforcing the IDEA's provisions, or forego Federal financial assistance for educational programs for students with disabilities. Having accepted the federal funds, Puerto is bound by the IDEA's valid waiver provisions. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1403, 1415.

2. IDEA's Waiver Requirement is a Valid Exercise of Congress's Spending Clause Authority

The IDEA is a valid exercise of Congress's Spending Clause authority and meets the criteria set out in South Dakota v. Dole, see discussion of Dole, supra at 10-11. There can be no dispute that (1) the general welfare is served by the IDEA which provides for free appropriate education for students with disabilities; (2) the IDEA clearly conditions the acceptance of federal funds on Puerto Rico's waiver of its Eleventh Amendment immunity; and (3) federal funds received by the State pursuant to the IDEA are expressly tied to implementing the provisions of that statute, and therefore the condition of waiving Eleventh Amendment immunity is directly related to Congress' interest in implementing the IDEA and providing for the education of children with disabilities. Finally, the obligations imposed by Congress may not violate any independent constitutional provisions. Id. at 208. The IDEA does not "induce the States to engage in activities that would themselves be unconstitutional." Id. at 210.

C. STATE DEFENDANTS HAVE NOT BEEN COERCED INTO ACCEPTING FEDERAL FUNDS.

Defendants also argue, Def. Mot. at 27, that the nondiscrimination conditions in the Rehabilitation Act and IDEA are coercive, and therefore, not voluntary.

While the Supreme Court in Dole recognized that the financial inducement of federal funds "might be so coercive as to pass the point at which 'pressure turns into compulsion,'" 483 U.S. at 211 (quoting Steward Mach. Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548, 590 (1937)), it saw no reason generally to inquire into whether a State was coerced. Noting that every congressional spending statute "is in some measure a temptation," the Court recognized that "to hold that motive or temptation is equivalent to coercion is to plunge the law in endless difficulties." Ibid. The Court in Dole thus reaffirmed the assumption, founded on "a robust common sense," that the States are voluntarily exercising their power of choice in accepting the conditions attached to the receipt of federal funds. Ibid. (quoting Steward Mach., 301 U.S. at 590). Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit has properly recognized "that it would only find Congress' use of its spending power impermissibly coercive, if ever, in the most extraordinary circumstances." California v. United States, 104 F.3d 1086, 1092 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 806 (1997).

Any argument that either of these statutes is coercive would be inconsistent with Supreme Court decisions that demonstrate that States may be put to difficult or even "unrealistic" choices about whether to take federal benefits without the conditions becoming unconstitutionally "coercive." In North Carolina ex rel. Morrow v. Califano, 445 F. Supp. 532 (E.D.N.C. 1977) (three-judge court), aff'd mem., 435 U.S. 962 (1978), a State challenged a federal law that conditioned the right to participate in "some forty-odd federal financial assistance health programs" on the creation of a "State Health Planning and Development Agency" that would regulate health services within the State. Id. at 533. The State argued that the Act was a coercive exercise of the Spending Clause because it conditioned money for multiple pre-existing programs on compliance with a new condition. The three-judge court rejected that claim, holding that the condition "does not impose a mandatory requirement * * * on the State; it gives to the states an option to enact such legislation and, in order to induce that enactment, offers financial assistance. Such legislation conforms to the pattern generally of federal grants to the states and is not 'coercive' in the constitutional sense." Id. at 535-536 (footnote omitted). The Supreme Court summarily affirmed, thus making the holding binding on this Court.11

Similarly, in Board of Education v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226 (1990), the Court interpreted the scope of the Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C. 4071 et seq., which conditions federal financial assistance for those public secondary schools that maintain a "limited open forum" on the schools not denying "equal access" to students based on the content of their speech. In rejecting the school's argument that the Act as interpreted unduly hindered local control, the Court noted that "because the Act applies only to public secondary schools that receive federal financial assistance, a school district seeking to escape the statute's obligations could simply forgo federal funding. Although we do not doubt that in some cases this may be an unrealistic option, [complying with the Act] is the price a federally funded school must pay if it opens its facilities to noncurriculum-related student groups." 496 U.S. at 241 (emphasis added, citation omitted).12

These cases demonstrate that the federal government can place conditions on federal. funding that require States to make the difficult choice of losing federal funds from many different longstanding programs (North Carolina), or even losing all federal funds (Mergens), without crossing the line to coercion. Thus, the choice imposed by Section 504 is not "coercive" in the constitutional sense. See Jim C., 235 F.3d at 1081-1082 (en banc). Accord New Hampshire Dep't of Employment Sec. v. Marshall, 616 F.2d 240, 246 (1st Cir. 1980) ("We do not agree that the carrot has become a club because rewards for conforming have increased. It is not the size of the stake that controls, but the rules of the game").

State officials are constantly forced to make difficult decisions regarding competing needs for limited funds. While it may not always be easy to decline federal funds, each department or agency of the State, under the control of state officials, is free to decide whether it will accept the federal funds with the Section 504 and waiver "string" attached, or simply decline the funds. See Grove City Coll., 465 U.S. at 575; Kansas v. United States, 214 F.3d at 1202 ("In this context, a difficult choice remains a choice, and a tempting offer is still but an offer. If Kansas finds the * * * requirements so disagreeable, it is ultimately free to reject both the conditions and the funding, no matter how hard that choice may be." (citation omitted))

Because one of the critical purposes of the Eleventh Amendment is to protect the "financial integrity of the States," Alden, 527 U.S. at 750, it is perfectly appropriate to permit each State to make its own cost-benefit analysis and determine whether it will, for any given state agency, accept the federal money with the condition that that agency can be sued in federal court, or forgo the federal funds available to that agency. See New York, 505 U.S. at 168. But once defendants have accepted federal financial assistance, "[r]equiring States to honor the obligations voluntarily assumed as a condition of federal funding * * * simply does not intrude on their sovereignty." Bell v. New Jersey, 461 U.S. 773, 790 (1983).

For all these reasons, Section 504 and Section 2000d-7, and IDEA, can be upheld under the Spending Clause.

II. CONGRESS'S ENACTMENT OF TITLE II OF THE ADA IS A VALID ABROGATION OF PUERTO RICO'S ELEVENTH AMENDMENT IMMUNITY.

In University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 363 (2001), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment grants Congress the power to abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity to private damage suits. In assessing the validity of "§ 5 legislation reaching beyond the scope of § 1's actual guarantees," the legislation "must exhibit 'congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end.'" Garrett, 531 U.S. at 365 (quoting City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 520 (1997)). This requires a three-step analysis: first, a court must "identify with some precision the scope of the constitutional right at issue," ibid.; second, the court must "examine whether Congress identified a history and pattern of unconstitutional * * * discrimination by the States against the disabled," id. at 368; finally, the Court must assess whether the "rights and remedies created" by the statute were "designed to guarantee meaningful enforcement" of the constitutional rights that Congress determined the States were violating, id. at 372, 373.

Applying these "now familiar principles," id. at 365, the Court in Garrett held that Congress did not validly abrogate States' Eleventh Amendment immunity to suits by private individuals for money damages under Title I of the ADA. The Court concluded that Congress had identified only "half a dozen" incidents of relevant conduct (i.e., potentially unconstitutional discrimination by States as employers against people with disabilities), id. at 369, and had not made a specific finding that discrimination in public sector employment was pervasive, id. at 371-372. Thus, the Court held, Congress did not assemble a sufficient basis to justify Title I's abrogation of Eleventh Amendment immunity for its prophylactic statutory remedies. Id. at 372.

The Supreme Court specifically reserved the question that the district court seeks to have the United States address: whether Title II's abrogation can be upheld as valid Section 5 legislation. The Supreme Court noted that Title II "has somewhat different remedial provisions from Title I," id. at 360 n.1, and that the legislative record for those activities governed by Title II was more extensive, see id. at 372 n.7. Less than a week after deciding Garrett, the Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari filed by California and let stand the Ninth Circuit's holding that Title II's abrogation was valid Section 5 legislation. See Dare v. California, 191 F.3d 1167 (1999), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 1187 (2001).

As the Court's disposition of Dare indicates, Garrett does not imply that Title II's abrogation exceeds Congress's power under Section 5. For Title II differs from Title I in four significant respects. First, unlike Title I, which was intended simply to redress violations of the Equal Protection Clause as applied to a non-suspect class in an area (employment) not otherwise subject to heightened scrutiny, the range of constitutional violations implicated by Title II extends to areas where heightened judicial scrutiny is appropriate and where even policies subject to rational-basis review cannot always be justified by cost or administrative efficiency alone. Second, Congress made express findings of persistent discrimination in "public services" generally, including services provided by States, as well as specific areas of traditional state concern, such as voting, education, and institutionalization. Third, Congress's findings were based on an extensive record of unconstitutional state conduct regarding people with disabilities in the areas covered by Title II, a record more extensive than existed for employment alone. Finally, the remedy enacted by Congress is more proportional and congruent to this record of violations than the record discussed in Garrett. We address each point in turn.

A. The Actions Covered By Title II Implicate Both Equal Protection And Other Substantive Constitutional Rights

Garrett instructs that in assessing the validity of Congress's Section 5 legislation, it is important to identify the constitutional rights at stake. See 531 U.S. at 365. Since there is no constitutional right to state employment, the Court looked to the Equal Protection Clause as the sole constitutional provision that Congress sought to enforce. Ibid. And because classifications based on disability are not subject to heightened scrutiny, the Court faulted Congress for failing to identify incidents when state action did not satisfy the "minimum 'rational-basis' review applicable to general social and economic legislation." Ibid.

By contrast, Title II governs all the operations of a State, which plainly encompasses state conduct subject to a number of other constitutional limitations embodied in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments and incorporated and applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Those rights include the right to vote, to access the courts, to petition officials for redress of grievances, to receive due process from law enforcement officials, and to be confined where conditions are humane. To the extent that Title II enforces the Fourteenth Amendment by remedying and preventing government conduct that burdens these constitutional provisions and discriminates against persons with disabilities in their exercise of these rights, Congress did not need to identify irrational government action in order to identify and address unconstitutional government action. See Popovich v. Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, 276 F.3d 808, 813-814 (6th Cir. 2002) (en banc); id. at 820 (Moore, J., concurring) ("The fact that Title II implicates constitutional violations in areas ranging from education to voting also suggests that heightened judicial scrutiny under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses is appropriate.")

Moreover, where a State is providing generally-available public services, justifications that would be sufficient to uphold policies in an employment setting often will not suffice to justify exclusion from government services. When a government interacts with its citizens as sovereign, the core purpose of the Constitution in protecting its citizens qua citizens is implicated in a way that it is not where the government is acting as employer. Thus, as the Supreme Court has explained in the First Amendment context, "[t]he government's interest in achieving its goals as effectively and efficiently as possible is elevated from a relatively subordinate interest when it acts as sovereign to a significant one when it acts as employer." Board of County Comm'rs v. Umbehr, 518 U.S. 668, 676 (1996); cf. O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709, 724 (1987) (holding that Fourth Amendment protects government employees, but declining to impose "probable cause" requirement on searches because of special needs of government as employer).

Therefore, the Supreme Court's statement in Garrett that the Equal Protection Clause does not require States to accommodate people with disabilities if it involves additional expenditures of funds, see 531 U.S. at 372, is best understood as limited to government actions in its capacity as an employer. That statement certainly would not permit States to deny persons with disabilities their right to vote on the ground that providing access to the polling place is costly. Even outside the arena of fundamental rights, the Supreme Court has made clear that a "State may not rely on a classification whose relationship to an asserted goal is so attenuated as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational." City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 446 (1985). Under this standard, reducing costs or increasing administrative efficiency will not always suffice as justification outside the employment context. See, e.g., Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 229 (1982); Jimenez v. Weinberger, 417 U.S. 628, 636-637 (1974). Indeed, the Supreme Court has held that in order to comply with the Equal Protection Clause a State may be required to provide costly services free of charge where necessary to provide a class of persons meaningful access to important services offered to the public at-large. See M.L.B. v. S.L.J., 519 U.S. 102, 110, 127 n.16 (1996).

In addition, courts have found unconstitutional treatment of persons with disabilities in a wide variety of public services, including violations of the Equal Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Eighth Amendment, as incorporated into Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment.13 These cases provide the "confirming judicial documentation," Garrett, 531 U.S. at 376 (Kennedy, J., concurring), of unconstitutional disability discrimination by States that the Court found lacking in the employment context.

B. Congress Identified Ample Evidence Of A Long History And A Continuing Problem Of Unconstitutional Treatment Of Persons With Disabilities By States And Made Express Findings On The Subject

Congress engaged in extensive study and fact-finding concerning the problem of unconstitutional discrimination against persons with disabilities, holding 13 hearings devoted specifically to the consideration of the ADA.14 In addition, a congressionally designated Task Force held 63 public forums across the country, which were attended by more than 7,000 individuals. Task Force on the Rights and Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities, From ADA to Empowerment 18 (1990) (Task Force Report). The Task Force also presented to Congress evidence submitted by nearly 5,000 individuals documenting the problems with discrimination faced daily by persons with disabilities – often at the hands of state governments. See 2 Staff of the House Comm. on Educ. and Labor, 101st Cong., 2d Sess., Legis. Hist. of Pub. L. No. 101-336: The Americans with Disabilities Act, 100th Cong., 2d Sess. 1040 (Comm. Print 1990) (Leg. Hist.); Task Force Report 16. Congress also considered several reports and surveys. See S. Rep. No. 116, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 6 (1989); H.R. Rep. No. 485, Pt. 2, 101st Cong., 2d Sess. 28 (1990); Task Force Report 16.15

1. Congressional Findings: As the Supreme Court in Garrett acknowledged, 531 U.S. at 372 n.7, the record of adverse conduct by States toward people with disabilities was both broader and deeper than the six incidents Congress identified with regard to state employment. Equally important, after amassing the record we discuss below, Congress brought its legislative judgment

to bear on the issue and expressly found that discrimination was pervasive in these areas. In the area of employment, Congress made a finding about discrimination in private employment, but no analogous finding for public employment. Id. at 371-372. In contrast, Congress made express findings in the text of the statute itself of persisting discrimination in "education, * * * institutionalization, * * * voting, and access to public services." 42 U.S.C. 12101(a)(3). The first three areas are fields predominately operated by States and the last is, under the terms of the statute, the exclusive domain of state and local governments. See 104 Stat. 337 (title of Title II is "Public Services"); 42 U.S.C. 12131(1) (limiting term "public entity" to state and local governments, and Amtrak).

Again, the same Committee Reports that the Court in Garrett found lacking with regard to public employment are directly on point with regard to public services, declaring that "there exists a compelling need to establish a clear and comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability in the areas of employment in the private sector, public accommodations, public services, transportation, and telecommunications." H.R. Rep. No. 485, supra, Pt. 2, at 28 (emphasis added); see also S. Rep. No. 116, supra, at 6 ("Discrimination still persists in such critical areas as employment in the private sector, public accommodations, public services, transportation, and telecommunications." (emphasis added)). The judgment of a co-
equal branch of government – embodied in the text of the statute and its committee reports – that a pattern of State discrimination persists and requires a federal remedy is entitled to "a great deal of deference, inasmuch as Congress is an institution better equipped to amass and evaluate the vast amounts of data bearing on such an issue." Walters v. National Ass'n of Radiation Survivors, 473 U.S. 305, 331 n.12 (1985); see also Board of Educ. v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226, 251 (1990). This judgment was supported by ample evidence.

2. Historic Discrimination: The "propriety of any § 5 legislation 'must be judged with reference to the historical experience . . . it reflects.'" Florida Prepaid Postsec. Educ. Expense Bd. v. College Sav. Bank, 527 U.S. 627, 640 (1999). Congress and the Supreme Court have long acknowledged the Nation's "history of unfair and often grotesque mistreatment" of persons with disabilities. City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 454 (1985) (Stevens, J., concurring); see id. at 461 (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part); see also Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581, 608 (Kennedy, J., concurring) ("[O]f course, persons with mental disabilities have been subject to historic mistreatment, indifference, and hostility."); Alexander v. Choate, 469 U.S. 287, 295 n.12 (1985) ("well-cataloged instances of invidious discrimination against the handicapped do exist").

That "lengthy and tragic history," Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 461 (Marshall, J.), of discrimination, segregation, and denial of basic civil and constitutional rights for persons with disabilities assumed an especially pernicious form in the early 1900s, when the eugenics movement and Social Darwinism labeled persons with mental and physical disabilities "a menace to society and civilization . . . responsible in a large degree for many, if not all, of our social problems." Id. at 462 (Marshall, J.); see also Civil Rights Comm'n, Accommodating the Spectrum of Individual Abilities 19 (1983) (Spectrum). Persons with disabilities were

portrayed as "sub-human creatures" and "waste products" responsible for poverty and crime. Spectrum 20. "A regime of state-mandated segregation and degradation soon emerged that in its virulence and bigotry rivaled, and indeed paralleled, the worst excesses of Jim Crow." Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 462 (Marshall, J.). Every single State, by law, provided for the segregation of persons with mental disabilities and, frequently, epilepsy, and excluded them from public schools and other state services and privileges of citizenship.16 States also fueled the fear and isolation of persons with disabilities by requiring public officials and parents, sometimes at risk of criminal prosecution, to report and segregate into institutions the "feeble-minded." Spectrum 20, 33-34. With the aim of halting reproduction and "nearly extinguish[ing] their race," Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 462 (Marshall, J.), almost every State accompanied forced segregation with compulsory sterilization and prohibitions of marriage, see id. at 463; see also Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207 (1927) (upholding state compulsory sterilization law "in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence"); 3 Leg. Hist. 2242 (James Ellis).

Children with mental disabilities were labeled "ineducable" and categorically excluded from public schools to "protect nonretarded children from them." Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 463 (Marshall, J.); see also Board of Educ. v.Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 191 (1982) ("many of these children were excluded completely from any form of public education").17 Numerous States also restricted the rights of physically disabled people to enter into contracts. See Spectrum 40.

3. The Enduring Legacy of Governmental Discrimination: "Prejudice, once let loose, is not easily cabined." Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 464 (Marshall, J.). "[O]ut-dated statutes are still on the books, and irrational fears or ignorance, traceable to the prolonged social and cultural isolation" of those with disabilities "continue to stymie recognition of the[ir] dignity and individuality." Id. at 467 (emphasis added).18 Consequently, "our society is still infected by the ancient, now almost subconscious assumption that people with disabilities are less than fully human and therefore are not fully eligible for the opportunities, services, and support systems which are available to other people as a matter of right. The result is massive, society-wide discrimination." S. Rep. No. 116, supra, at 8-9.19

Moreover, as we detail below based on the testimony of hundreds of witnesses before Congress and at the Task Force's forums,20 Congress found, as a matter of present reality and historical fact, that discrimination pervaded state governmental operations and that persons with disabilities have been and are subjected to "widespread and persisting deprivation of [their] constitutional rights." Florida Prepaid, 527 U.S. at 645; see 42 U.S.C. 12101(a)(2) and (a)(3).

In particular, Congress reasonably discerned a substantial risk that persons with disabilities will be subjected to unconstitutional discrimination by state governments in the form of "arbitrary or irrational" distinctions and exclusions, Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 446. In addition, the evidence before Congress established that States structure governmental programs and operations in a manner that has the effect of denying persons with disabilities the equal opportunity to obtain vital services and to exercise fundamental rights (such as the rights to vote, to petition government officials, to contract, to receive adequate custodial treatment, and to achieve equal access to the courts and public education) protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The scope of the testimony offered to Congress regarding unconstitutional treatment swept so broadly, touching virtually every aspect of individuals' encounters with their government, as to defy isolating the problem into select categories of state action. For ease of understanding, we have organized the evidence into sections touching on various areas of constitutional import.

(a) Voting, Petitioning, and Access to Courts: Voting is the right that is "preservative of all rights," Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U.S. 641, 652 (1966), and the Equal Protection Clause subjects voting classifications to strict scrutiny to guarantee "the opportunity for equal participation by all voters" in elections, Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 670 (1966).

Congress heard that "in the past years people with disabilities have been turned away from the polling places after they have been registered to vote because they did not look competent." 2 Leg. Hist. 1220 (Nancy Husted-Jensen). When one witness turned in the registration card of a voter who has cerebral palsy and is blind, the "clerk of the board of canvassers looked aghast * * * and said to me, 'Is that person competent? Look at that signature.'" The clerk then arbitrarily invented a reason to reject the registration. Id. at 1219. Congress was also aware that a deaf voter was told that "you have to be able to use your voice" to vote. Equal Access to Voting for Elderly and Disabled Persons: Hearings Before the Task Force on Elections of the House Comm. on House Admin., 98th Cong., 1st Sess. 94 (1984) (Equal Access to Voting Hearings). "How can disabled people have clout with our elected officials when they are aware that many of us are prevented from voting?" Ark. 155.21

The denial of access to political officials and vital governmental services also featured prominently in the testimony. For example, "[t]he courthouse door is still closed to Americans with disabilities" – literally. 2 Leg. Hist. 936 (Sen. Harkin).

I went to the courtroom one day and * * * I could not get into the building because there were about 500 steps to get in there. Then I called for the security guard to help me, who * * * told me there was an entrance at the back door for the handicapped people. * * * I went to the back door and there were three more stairs for me to get over to be able to ring a bell to announce my arrival so that somebody would come and open the door and maybe let me in. I was not able to do that. * * * This is the court system that is supposed to give me a fair hearing. It took me 2 hours to get in. * * * And when [the judge] finally saw me in the courtroom, he could not look at me because of my wheelchair. * * * The employees of the courtroom came back to me and told me, "You are not the norm. You are not the normal person we see every day."

Id. at 1071 (Emeka Nwojke).

Numerous other witnesses explained that access to the courts22 and other important government buildings and officials23 depended upon their willingness to crawl or be carried. And Congress was told that state officials themselves had "pointed to negative attitudes and misconceptions as potent impediments to [their own] barrier removal policies." Advisory Comm'n on Intergovernmental Relations, Disability Rights Mandates: Federal and State Compliance with Employment Protections and Architectural Barrier Removal 87 (Apr. 1989).

The physical exclusion of people with disabilities from public buildings has special constitutional import when court proceedings are taking place inside. For criminal defendants, the Due Process Clause has been interpreted to provide that "an accused has a right to be present at all stages of the trial where his absence might frustrate the fairness of the proceedings." Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 819 n.15 (1975). The Sixth Amendment "grants to the accused personally the right to make his defense. It is the accused, not counsel, who must be 'informed of the nature and cause of the accusation,' who must be 'confronted with the witnesses against him,' and who must be accorded 'compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.'" Id. at 819. Parties in civil litigation have an analogous Due Process right to be present in the courtroom and to meaningfully participate unless their exclusion furthers important government interests. See, e.g., Popovich, 276 F.3d at 813-814 (en banc); Helminski v. Ayerst Labs., 766 F.2d 208, 213 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 981 (1985).

(b) Education: "[E]ducation is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments" because "it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education." Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954). Accordingly, where the State undertakes to provide a public education, that right "must be made available to all on equal terms." Ibid. But Congress learned that irrational prejudices, fears, ignorance, and animus still operate to deny persons with disabilities an equal opportunity for public education. For example, California reported that in its school districts (which are covered by the Eleventh Amendment, see n.28, infra), "[a] bright child with cerebral palsy is assigned to a class with mentally retarded and other developmentally disabled children solely because of her physical disability" and that in one California town, all disabled children are grouped into a single classroom regardless of individual ability. Calif. Att'y Gen., Commission

on Disability: Final Report 17, 81 (Dec. 1989) (Calif. Report). "When I was 5," a witness testified to Congress, "my mother proudly pushed my wheelchair to our local public school, where I was promptly refused admission because the principal ruled that I was a fire hazard." S. Rep. No. 116, supra, at 7.24

State institutions of higher education also demonstrated prejudices and stereotypical thinking. A person with epilepsy was asked to leave a state college because her seizures were "disrupt[ive]" and, officials said, created a risk of liability. 2 Leg. Hist. 1162 (Barbara Waters). A doctor with multiple sclerosis was denied admission to a psychiatric residency program because the state admissions committee "feared the negative reactions of patients to his disability." Id. at 1617 (Arlene Mayerson). Another witness explained that, "when I was first injured, my college refused to readmit me" because "it would be 'disgusting' to my roommates to have to live with a woman with a disability." Wash. 1733.25 This evidence is consistent with the finding of the Commission on Civil Rights, also before Congress, that the "higher one goes on the education scale, the lower the proportion of handicapped people one finds." Spectrum 28; see also National Council on the Handicapped, On the Threshold of Independence 14 (1988) (29%

of disabled persons had attended college, compared to 48% of the non-disabled population). Although such a finding does not indicate what percentage of the population have conditions such as mental retardation that might affect skills required for higher education, "they nonetheless are evidence of a substantial disparity." Spectrum 28.

(c) Law Enforcement: Persons with disabilities have also been victimized

in their dealings with law enforcement. When police in Kentucky learned that a man they arrested had AIDS, "[i]nstead of putting the man in jail, the officers locked him inside his car to spend the night." 2 Leg. Hist. 1005 (Belinda Mason). Police refused to accept a rape complaint from a blind woman because she could not make a visual identification, ignoring the possibility of alternative means of identifying the perpetrator. N.M. 1081. A person in a wheelchair was given a ticket and six-months probation for obstructing traffic on the street, even though the person could not use the sidewalk because it lacked curb cuts. Va. 1684. Task Force Chairman Justin Dart testified, moreover, that persons with hearing impairments "have been arrested and held in jail over night without ever knowing their rights nor what they are being held for." 2 Leg. Hist. 1331.26 The discrimination continues in correctional institutions. "I have witnessed their

jailers rational[ize] taking away their wheelchairs as a form of punishment as if that is different than punishing prisoners by breaking their legs." 2 Leg. Hist. 1190 (Cindy Miller).27 These problems implicate the entire array of constitutional protections for those in state custody for alleged or proven criminal behavior (including the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures, the substantive due process rights of pre-trial detainees, the procedural due process and Sixth Amendment rights to fair and open criminal proceedings, and the Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment upon conviction).

(d) Institutionalization: Unconstitutional denials of appropriate treatment and unreasonable institutionalization of persons in state mental hospitals were also catalogued. See 2 Leg. Hist. 1203 (Lelia Batten) (state law ineffective; state hospitals are "notorious for using medication for controlling the behavior of clients and not for treatment alone. Seclusion rooms and restraints are used to punish clients."); id. at 1262-1263 (Eleanor C. Blake) (detailing the "minimal, custodial, neglectful, abusive" care received at state mental hospital, and willful indifference resulting in rape); Spectrum 34-35.28 Unnecessary institutionalization and mistreatment within state-run facilities may violate substantive due process. See Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307 (1982) (unconstitutional conditions of confinement); O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563 (1975) (impermissible confinement) ; Thomas S. by Brooks v. Flaherty, 902 F.2d 250 (4th Cir.) (confinement when appropriate community placement available), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 951 (1990); Clark v. Cohen, 794 F.2d 79 (3d Cir.) (same), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 962 (1986) .

(e) Other Public Services: Congress heard evidence that irrational discrimination permeated the entire range of services offered by governments. Programs as varied as zoning29; the operation of zoos,30 public libraries,31 public swimming pools and park programs32; and child custody proceedings33 exposed the discriminatory actions and attitudes of officials.34

C. Title II Is Reasonably Tailored To Remedying And Preventing Unconstitutional Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities

When enacting Section 5 legislation, Congress "must tailor its legislative scheme to remedying or preventing" the unconstitutional conduct it has identified. Florida Prepaid Postsec. Educ. Expense Bd. v. College Sav. Bank, 527 U.S. 627, 639 (1999). Congress, however, may "paint with a much broader brush than may this Court, which must confine itself to the judicial function of deciding individual cases and controversies upon individual records." Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 501-502 n.3 (1980) (Powell, J., concurring). Accordingly, in exercising its power, "Congress is not limited to mere legislative repetition of [the] Court's constitutional jurisprudence." Garrett, 531 U.S. at 365. Rather, "[l]egislation which deters or remedies constitutional violations can fall within the sweep of Congress' enforcement power even if in the process it prohibits conduct which is not itself unconstitutional." Lopez v. Monterey County, 525 U.S. 266, 282-283 (1999). The operative question thus is not whether Title II "prohibit[s] a somewhat broader swath of conduct," Garrett, 531 U.S. at 365, than would the courts, but whether in response to the historic and enduring legacy of discrimination, segregation, and isolation faced by persons with disabilities at the hands of States, Title II was "designed to guarantee meaningful enforcement" of their constitutional rights, id. at 373.

Title II fits this description. Title II targets discrimination that is unreasonable. The States retain their discretion to exclude persons from programs, services, or benefits for any lawful reason unconnected with their disability or for no reason at all.35 Title II also permits exclusion if a person cannot "meet[] the essential eligibility requirements" of the governmental program or service. 42 U.S.C. 12131(2). But once an individual proves that she can meet all but the non-essential eligibility requirements of a program or service, the government's interest in excluding that individual "by reason of such disability," 42 U.S.C. 12132, is both minimal and, in light of history, constitutionally problematic. At the same time, permitting the States to retain and enforce their essential eligibility requirements protects their legitimate interests in selecting and structuring governmental activities. Title II thus carefully balances a State's legitimate operational interests against the right of a person with a disability to be judged "by his or her own merit and essential qualities." Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 517 (2000).

Title II thus requires more than the Constitution only to the extent that some disability discrimination may be rational for constitutional purposes, but unreasonable under the statute. That margin of statutory protection does not redefine the constitutional right at issue. Instead, the statutory protection is necessary to enforce the courts' constitutional standard by reaching unconstitutional conduct that would otherwise escape detection in court, remedying the continuing effects of prior unconstitutional discrimination, and deterring future constitutional violations. "While the line between measures that remedy or prevent unconstitutional actions and measures that make a substantive change in the governing law is not easy to discern," City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 519 (1997), Title II is on the remedial and prophylactic side of that line.

Title II requires "reasonable modifications" in public services. 42 U.S.C. 12131(2). That requirement, however, is carefully tailored to the unique features of disability discrimination that Congress found persisted in public services in two ways. First, given the history of segregation and isolation and the resulting entrenched stereotypes, fear, prejudices, and ignorance about persons with disabilities, Congress reasonably determined that a simple ban on discrimination would be insufficient to erase the stain of discrimination. Cf. Green v. County Sch. Bd., 391 U.S. 430, 437-438 (1968) (after unconstitutional segregation, government is "charged with the affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary" to eliminate discrimination "root and branch"). Therefore, Title II affirmatively promotes the integration of individuals with disabilities – both in order to remedy past unconstitutional conduct and to prevent future

discrimination. Congress could reasonably conclude that if it did not intercede the demonstrated failure of state governments to undertake reasonable efforts to accommodate and integrate persons with disabilities within their programs, services, and operations, would freeze in place the effects of their prior exclusion and isolation of individuals with disabilities, creating a self-
perpetuating spiral of segregation, stigma, ill treatment, neglect, and degradation. Congress also correctly concluded that, by reducing stereotypes and misconceptions, integration reduces the likelihood that constitutional violations will recur. Cf. Olmstead, 527 U.S. at 600 (segregation "perpetuates unwarranted assumptions that persons so isolated are incapable or unworthy of participating in community life").

Moreover, failure to accommodate the needs of qualified persons with disabilities may often result directly from hidden unconstitutional animus and false stereotypes. Title II simply makes certain that the refusal to accommodate an individual with a disability is genuinely based on unreasonable cost or actual inability to accommodate, rather than on nothing but the discomfort with the disability or unfounded concern about the costs of accommodation. Such a prophylactic response is commensurate with the problem of irrational state discrimination that denies access to benefits and services for which the State has otherwise determined individuals with disabilities to be qualified or which the State provides to all its citizens (such as education, police protection, and civil courts). It makes particular sense in the context of public services, where a post hoc judicial remedy may be of limited utility to an individual given the difficulty

in remedying unconstitutional denials of intangible but important rights, such as

the right to vote, to a fair trial, or to educational opportunity. By establishing prophylactic requirements, Congress provided additional mechanisms for individuals to avoid irreparable injuries and to ensure that constitutional rights were fully vindicated.

Further, Congress tailored the modification requirement to the unconstitutional governmental conduct it seeks to repair and prevent. The statute requires modifications only where "reasonable." 42 U.S.C. 12131(2). Governments need not make modifications that require "fundamental alterations in the nature of a service, program, or activity," in light of their nature or cost, agency resources, and the operational practices and structure of the position. 28 C.F.R. 35.130(b)(7), 35.150(a)(3), 35.164; Olmstead, 527 U.S. at 606 n.16. And Congress determined, based on the consistent testimony of witnesses and expert studies, that contrary to the misconceptions of many, the vast majority of accommodations entail little or no cost.36 And any costs are further diminished when measured against the financial and human costs of denying persons with disabilities an education or excluding them from needed government services or

the equal exercise of fundamental rights, thereby rendering them a permanent underclass. See Plyler, 457 U.S. at 223-224, 227.

Title II's elevated burden of justification is not an impermissible effort to redefine constitutional rights; it is, instead, an appropriate means of rooting out hidden animus and remedying and preventing pervasive discrimination that is unconstitutional under judicially defined standards. In short, "[a] proper remedy for an unconstitutional exclusion * * * aims to eliminate so far as possible the discriminatory effects of the past and to bar like discrimination in the future." United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515, 547 (1996). Section 5 thus empowers Congress to do more than simply prohibit the creation of new barriers to equality; it can require States to tear down the walls they erected during decades of discrimination and exclusion. See id. at 550 n.19 (Equal Protection Clause itself can require modification of facilities and programs to ensure equal access).

D. In Light Of The Legislative Record And Findings And The Tailored Statutory Scheme, Title II And Its Abrogation Are Appropriate Section 5 Legislation

The record Congress compiled and the findings it made suffice to support Title II's substantive standard as appropriate Fourteenth Amendment legislation applicable to States and localities.37 As such, it is one in a line of civil rights statutes, authorized by Civil War Amendments, that apply to States and local governments. See, e.g., Titles III, IV, VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. 2000b-2000e et seq.; Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.; Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. 1997 et seq.

Aside from the substantive provisions of Title II, Garrett held that to sustain an abrogation of Eleventh Amendment immunity as appropriate Section 5 legislation, only constitutional misconduct committed by those who are "beneficiaries" of the Eleventh Amendment can be relied upon. 521 U.S. at 369. The line between those government entities entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity and those which are not is not always easy to identify. For example, while school districts are generally found not to be "arms of the state" protected by the Eleventh Amendment, see Mt. Healthy City Sch. Dist. Bd. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280–281 (1977), there are some significant exceptions to this rule.38 Similar state-by-state inquiries are required in the law enforcement arena. See McMillian v. Monroe County, 520 U.S. 781, 795 (1997) (holding that county sheriff in Alabama is a state official and noting "there is no inconsistency created by court decisions that declare sheriffs to be county officers in one State, and not in another"). In other situations, such as voting, local officials are simply administering state policies and programs. While nominally the action of a local government, the discrimination individuals with disabilities endure is directly attributable to the State. Cf. Railroad Co. v. County of Otoe, 83 U.S. 667, 676 (1872) ("Counties, cities, and towns exist only for the convenient administration of the government. Such organizations are instruments of the State, created to carry out its will. When they are authorized or directed to levy a tax, or to appropriate its proceeds, the State through them is doing indirectly what it might do directly."). Thus, as Garrett makes clear, actions of such local officials can be attributed to the States for purposes of the "congruence and proportionality" inquiry. See 531 U.S. at 373 (attributing to "States" and "State officials" conduct regarding voting that was done by county "registrar[s]" and "voting officials" in South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. at 312).

Given the fact that some school districts and law enforcement officials are "beneficiaries of the Eleventh Amendment," Garrett, 531 U.S. at 369, and that some local practices are done at the States' behest, the evidence before Congress regarding the treatment of people with disabilities by education, law enforcement, voting, and other officials is relevant in assessing Congress's legislative record about State violations. Because the demarcation is unclear at the margins, we have in this brief provided the evidence before Congress concerning both state and local governments. But even limited to the evidence concerning States acting through their own agencies, there was a sufficient basis to sustain Congress's determination that States engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional conduct.

We acknowledge that the Tenth Circuit in Thompson v. Colorado, No. 99-1045, 2001 WL 1705488 (10th Cir. Oct. 9, 2001), reached the contrary conclusion. After surveying the record before Congress, Thompson concluded that there was "some evidence in the congressional record that unconstitutional discrimination against the disabled exists in government 'services, programs, or activities.'" Id. at *10. The panel found even a larger number of incidents involved "refusals by public entities to make accommodations," ibid., which would be unconstitutional

if invidiously motivated and, the court determined, could also sometimes rise to the level of constitutional violations regardless of intent. Nonetheless, the panel determined that it could not sustain Title II's abrogation as valid Fourteenth Amendment legislation because "[b]ased on the 'minimal evidence of unconstitutional state discrimination' against the disabled, Title II's accommodation requirement appears to be an attempt to prescribe a new federal standard for the treatment of the disabled rather than an attempt to combat unconstitutional discrimination." Id. at *11 (citation omitted). The Fifth Circuit appears to have reached a similar conclusion in Reickenbacker v. Foster, 274 F.3d 974, 981-983 (2001).

Thompson and Reickenbacker were based on the legal misapprehension that the burden is on the United States to prove that the statute was constitutional and that Congress was obligated to compile a detailed record to support its findings. To the contrary, it is well-established that Congressional legislation is entitled to a strong presumption of constitutionality. See United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 607 (2000); Reno v. Condon, 528 U.S. 141, 147 (2000). Thus, a court should declare a statute beyond Congress's authority "only upon a plain showing that Congress has exceeded its constitutional bounds." Morrison, 529 U.S. at 607 (emphasis added). This is particularly true when the constitutional question is predicated on empirical questions regarding the existence and scope of a problem. "We owe Congress' findings deference in part because the institution is far better equipped than the judiciary to amass and evaluate the vast amounts of data bearing upon legislative questions." Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 520 U.S. 180, 195 (1997) (Turner II) (collecting cases) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Of course, when heightened scrutiny is involved, a legislature may be required to point to some factual predicate indicating that its determination that there is a problem meriting infringement on constitutional rights is reasonable. But even then a legislature need not show that it reached the correct conclusion, see Turner II, 520 U.S. at 211, and may rely on facts outside the "record" in making its determination, see id. at 212-213 (relying on post-enactment evidence); cf. Erie v. Pap's A.M., 529 U.S. 277, 297-298 (2000) ("The city council members, familiar with commercial downtown Erie, are the individuals who would likely have had firsthand knowledge of what took place * * * and can make particularized, expert judgments about the resulting harmful secondary effects [of the expressive conduct].").

Indeed, when the Supreme Court has reviewed legislation under a heightened scrutiny standard and required some evidence to sustain legislation, it has permitted a statute to be upheld on the basis of less persuasive and voluminous evidence than was before Congress. In Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000), for example, the Court held that it was not even "a close call" that the State had sustained its burden of showing that "sometimes

large contributions will work actual corruption of our political system," thus justifying infringement on First Amendment rights, by pointing to an affidavit by a state legislator, two newspaper articles, and four incidents discussed in another judicial opinion. Id. at 393, 395. In Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191 (1992), likewise, the Court held that a statute prohibiting campaigning near polling places survived strict scrutiny analysis based on history, consensus, and "simple common sense." Id. at 211; see also Florida Bar v. Went for It, Inc., 515 U.S. 618, 628 (1995) (upholding regulation of commercial speech based on a single study and noting that "we do not read our case law to require that empirical data come to us accompanied by a surfeit of background information"). Thus, Thompson and Reickenbacker held Congress to an improper standard of proof.

In assessing Congress's exercise of its power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has reiterated that the volume of evidence in the record is "not determinative." Kimel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U.S. 62, 91 (2000); Florida Prepaid, 527 U.S. at 646; see also Boerne, 521 U.S. at 531 ("Judicial deference, in most cases, is based not on the state of the legislative record Congress compiles but 'on due regard for the decision of the body constitutionally appointed to decide.'"). It is true that the Supreme Court in Garrett looked to the underlying legislative record in an effort to determine whether there was a basis for upholding the legislation as an appropriate prophylactic remedy. But in that case the Court found (contrary to the situation here) that Congress had made no relevant findings regarding States and further determined (again, contrary to the situation here) that the only relevant evidence in the legislative record, involving six examples of unconstitutional conduct, was equivalent to no record at all.

But here there are findings reflecting Congress's determination that States engaged in forms of discrimination that can rise to the level of unconstitutional conduct: "outright intentional exclusion, * * * failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services." 42 U.S.C. 12101(a)(5). Given the deference to Congress's preeminent fact-finding role, the evidence in the "record" mandates a judicial holding that Congress could have reasonably reached the conclusion (expressed in statutory findings) that States were unconstitutionally discriminating against persons with disabilities. See Popovich, 276 F.3d at 820 (Moore, J., concurring). While the record may not have been as extensive as the courts in Thompson and Reickenbacker would have liked, it was constitutionally sufficient.

Congress's finding, in turn, is sufficient to support the statute as valid Fourteenth Amendment legislation. Once Congress's determination regarding the existence of constitutional violations has been confirmed, the scope of the remedy is purely a matter of legislative choice. Cf. M'Culloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316, 423 (1819) ("But where the law is not prohibited, and is really calculated to effect any of the objects intrusted to the government, to undertake here to inquire into the decree of its necessity, would be to pass the line which circumscribes the judicial department, and to tread on legislative ground."). There is no requirement that the solution Congress adopts be the least-restrictive legislation to remedy and prevent the unconstitutional state conduct it has identified. Instead, as the Supreme Court explained in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. at 536, and reiterated in Kimel, 528 U.S. at 80-81: "It is for Congress in the first instance to 'determin[e] whether and what legislation is needed to secure the guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment,' and its conclusions are entitled to much deference." But see Garcia v. SUNY Health Sciences Ctr., No. 00-9223, 2001 WL 1159970, at *6-*7 (2d Cir. Sept. 26, 2001) (holding, without discussing the constitutional violations or findings, that Title II's reasonable modification requirement was not valid Section 5 legislation); cf. Popovich, 276 F.3d at 812 (holding that Title II's obligations could not be upheld in their entirety under the Equal Protection Clause).
It is true that Title II's broad coverage contrasts with that of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which the Court noted approvingly in Garrett, 531 U.S. at 373-374. The operative question, however, is not whether Title II is broad, but whether it is broader than necessary. It is not. The history of unconstitutional treatment and the risk of future discrimination found by Congress pertained to all aspects of governmental operations. Only a comprehensive effort to integrate persons with disabilities would end the cycle of isolation, segregation, and second-class citizenship, and deter further discrimination. Integration in education alone, for example, would not suffice if persons with disabilities were relegated to institutions or trapped in their homes by lack of transportation or inaccessible sidewalks. Ending unnecessary institutionalization is of little gain if neither government services nor the social activities of public life (libraries, museums, parks, and recreation services) are accessible to bring persons with disabilities into the life of the community. And none of those efforts would suffice if persons with disabilities continued to lack equivalent access to government officials, courthouses, and polling places. In short, Congress chose a comprehensive remedy because it confronted an all-encompassing, inter-connected problem; to do less would be as ineffectual as "throwing an 11-foot rope to a drowning man 20 feet offshore and then proclaiming you are going more than halfway," S. Rep. No. 116, supra, at 13. "Difficult and intractable problems often require powerful remedies * * * ." Kimel, 528 U.S. at 88. It is in such cases that Congress is empowered by Section 5 to enact "reasonably prophylactic legislation." Ibid. Title II is just such a powerful remedy for a problem which Congress found to be intractable. Title II's abrogation is thus effective in removing defendants' immunity from suit.

III. PLAINTIFFS' MAY PROCEED AGAINST A STATE OFFICIAL ACTING IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY UNDER THE PRINCIPLES IN EX PARTE YOUNG.

Even if this Court ultimately finds the Eleventh Amendment bars private suits under the ADA, Rehabilitation Act and IDEA against a State sued in its own name, plaintiffs may still proceed in this action in order to obtain prospective injunctive relief. See University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 374 n.9 (2001) ( although the State was immune from suit under Title I of the ADA, Title I's "standards can be enforced * * * by private individuals in actions for injunctive relief under Ex parte Young.").

The Supreme Court in Garrett reaffirmed the well established principle that the Eleventh Amendment immunity does not authorize States to violate federal law. Thus, a holding that "Congress did not validly abrogate the States' sovereign immunity from suit by private individuals for money damages * * * does not mean that persons with disabilities have no federal recourse against discrimination." 531 U.S. at 374 n.9; see also Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706, 754-55 (1999) ("The constitutional privilege of a State to assert its sovereign immunity * * * does not confer upon the State a concomitant right to disregard the Constitution or valid federal law.").

It was to reconcile these very principles — that States have Eleventh Amendment immunity from private suits, but that they are still bound by federal law — that the Supreme Court adopted the rule of Ex parte Young. See Alden, 527 U.S. at 756.39 Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908), held that when a state official acts in violation of the Constitution or federal law (which the Constitution's Supremacy Clause makes the "supreme Law of the Land"), he is acting ultra vires and is no longer entitled to the State's immunity from suit. The doctrine permits only prospective relief, see Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 664, 667-668 (1974), against an official in his or her official capacity, see Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167 n.14 (1985). By limiting relief to prospective injunctions of officials, the Court avoids courts entering judgments directly against the State but, at the same time, prevents the State (through its officials) from continuing illegal action.

The Ex parte Young doctrine has been described as a legal fiction, but it was adopted by the Supreme Court almost a century ago to serve a critical function in permitting federal courts to bring state policies and practices into compliance with federal law. "Both prospective and retrospective relief implicate Eleventh Amendment concerns, but the availability of prospective relief of the sort awarded in Ex parte Young gives life to the Supremacy Clause. Remedies designed to end a continuing violation of federal law are necessary to vindicate the federal interest in assuring the supremacy of that law." Green v. Mansour, 474 U.S. 64, 68 (1985); see also Alden, 527 U.S. at 757 ("Established rules provide ample means to correct ongoing violations of law and to vindicate the interests which animate the Supremacy Clause."). See also Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management v. United States, 286 F.3d 27, 45 (1st Cir. 2002) (recognizes Ex Parte Young doctrine).

In addition to compensatory damages that would be barred by the Eleventh Amendment absent abrogation or waiver, plaintiff's complaint seeks an order for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to comply with the order of the Administrative Judge, and provide a qualified sign language interpreter. This is clearly the type of forward-looking relief permissible under Ex parte Young. See Melo v. Hafer, 912 F.2d 628, 635-636 (3d Cir. 1990), aff'd on other grounds, 502 U.S. 21 (1991). Thus, the Eleventh Amendment is no bar to a suit proceeding against defendant Cesar Rey in his official capacity for such relief. See e,g, Bradley, 189 F.3d at 753-54 (Ex Parte Young allows plaintiffs to enjoin Department of Education officials to provide prospective relief under IDEA).

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the Eleventh Amendment does not bar this lawsuit against Puerto Rico. However, even if this Court finds that Puerto Rico cannot be sued, plaintiffs may proceed against defendant Cesar Rey in his official capacity to obtain prospective relief.

Dated this __ day of May, 2002

Respectfully submitted,

John Ashcroft

Attorney General of the United States

Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.

Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights

Division

___________________________

John Wodatch

Philip L. Breen

Allison Nichol

Laura F. Einstein

United States Department of Justice

Civil Rights Division/Disability Rights Section - NYA

950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, Dc 20530

202-514-9583; 202-616-6862 (fax)

Lisa E. Bhatia Gautier

Assistant U.S. Attorney #206014

Room 452, Federal Building

150 Chardon Street

Hato Rey, Puerto Rico 00918

Tel. (787)766-5656 Fax (787)766-6219