State Bar of Michigan Standing Committee on Justice Initiatives
and Equal Access Initiative Disabilities Project Volume 1, Issue
2, March 2005 Disabilities Project Newsletter Low Cost Ways
Courthouses Can Be More Accessible to Persons With Disabilities
by Kathleen Harris, Kathleen N. Harris PC, and Hon. Paul S.
Teranes, Judge, Wayne County Circuit Court Under Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, courthouses and other public
buildings must be accessible to persons with disabilities. The
United States Supreme Court, in the case of State of Tennessee
v. Lane, decided May 2004, upheld the provision of Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act, which allows a person with
a disability to sue the state for not having a court facility in
compliance with the ADA concerning accessibility to the
courtroom. There are other federal and state statutes requiring
governmental entities not to discriminate against persons with
disabilities. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 USC 794,
prohibits discrimination