In 1990, when Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, lawmakers hailed the new civil rights statute as a means to help those with physical or other challenges more fully participate in mainstream American life.
It would change the national landscape with wheelchair ramps, specially equipped restrooms, and convenient parking spaces. Most important, the ADA was designed to change people's thinking, by making equal access both a national goal and the law of the land.
But just how broad and sweeping is the ADA? And to what extent do its protections embrace state prison inmates? Those questions are at the center of a case set for oral argument at the US Supreme Court Wednesday.
Details here from the Christian Science Monitor.