Word: courtly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...world where everyone can be diagnosed as having a medical condition of some sort, what does it mean to be disabled? In a trio of decisions on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, as far as the Americans With Disabilities Act is concerned, disability does not mean poor eyesight or high blood pressure. The ADA, one of the nation?s major civil rights measures, bans discrimination by employers against handicapped workers. Because of its broad language -- a disability is any condition that limits a major life activity -- the statute has been generously interpreted over the years by the Supreme...
...Writing for the Court, Justice Sandra Day O?Connor said that "the ADA?s coverage is restricted to only those whose impairments are not mitigated by corrective measures." People whose conditions are easily dealt with by medications or simple devices like eyeglasses are not protected under the act. "This was clearly a line-drawing set of decisions," says TIME senior writer Adam Cohen, "and now it will be important to see how the line-drawing gets done in the lower courts...
...unsuspecting fan or just to get a glimpse of Sammy Sosa leaving the ball park?" A police officer has no idea, but under Chicago's anti-gang law, the cop must order them to disperse. With Stevens writing for a 6-to-3 majority, the Supreme Court last week struck down Chicago's sweeping statute, which had sparked 42,000 arrests in its three years of enforcement...
Chicago officials, along with the League of Cities and 31 states that sided with them in court, might do well to look at one state where anti-gang loitering prosecutions have withstood constitutional challenges: California. The state has two antiloitering statutes on the books, aimed at people intending to commit specific crimes--prostitution and drug dealing. In addition, a number of local prosecutors are waging war against gangs by an innovative use of the public-nuisance laws...
...cities such as Los Angeles and San Jose, prosecutors have sought injunctions against groups of people suspected of gang activity. "The officers in the streets know the gang members and gather physical evidence for lengthy court hearings," says Los Angeles prosecutor Martin Vranicar. If the evidence is enough to convince a judge, an injunction is issued to prohibit specific behavior--such as carrying cell phones or pagers or blocking sidewalk passage--in defined geographical areas. "It works instantly," says San Jose city attorney Joan Gallo, who successfully defended the tactic before the California Supreme Court. "A few days after...