A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools (24-249)
argument 24-249A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 26m
8 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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Transcript
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What legal question does the Supreme Court need to resolve in AJT v. Osseo Area Schools?
We will hear argument first this morning in case twenty four two hundred and forty nine, AJT versus ASEO Area Schools. Mr Martinez.
Mr Chief Justice, and may it please the Court, the district has conceded Ava's question presented. Both sides now agree that the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act apply the same legal standards to all plaintiffs, and that it's wrong to impose any sort of uniquely stringent test on children facing discrimination at school. That concession fully resolves this case. The Eighth Circuit rejected Ava's claims under Monahan's two tiered asymmetric approach. That ruling can't stand. The district wants to preserve its victory under a new theory it invented after dropping the indefensible, two-tiered approach it defended below. Now they say that the statutes apply a bad faith or gross misjudgment test to all plaintiffs, not just school children protected by the IDEA.
That's exactly the opposite of what they told you at the search stage. Where they said that no bad faith or intent is required outside the IDEA context. The district's new theory violates the text, history, and purpose of both statutes. It contradicts decades of regulations. It defies at least five precedents of this court and decisions from virtually every circuit. It would also revolutionize disability law, stripping protections from vulnerable victims and gutting the reasonable accommodations needed for equal opportunity. If you address this new argument, you should reject it out of hand. But you shouldn't address it, because it's so clearly procedurally barred many times over. Whether you look at this through the lens of judicial estoppel or waiver or rules fifteen and twenty four, one thing is clear.
The district can't win this case based on a radical new theory that goes beyond Ava's question presented and directly contradicts what they told the lower courts and this court at the search stage. Instead, you should follow regular order and procedure, you should answer the limited question presented, and you should vacate the decision below. I welcome the Court's questions.
Uh isn't there an argument though that we should uh that some would think is uh embedded or included in the question presented, and that is what is the standard?
I don't think so, Your Honor. I don't think that question is embedded in the question presented. I think our question presented was very clear that we were asking whether the uniquely stringent test that Monaghan required only in the educational context, whether that was the correct rule. And that is clear, not just from the framing of the question presented and the paragraphs, the introductory paragraphs leading into it. But also from what we said in the the rest of the petition, where we use that uniquely stringent phase ten different times to talk about what issue we are uh putting before the court. We said that on pages two, three, fifteen 13, 16, 22, 24, 27, and 39. It's not just us, though. We understood our question presented that way.
The other side also understood it the same way. So when they responded to our petition and they responded to our question presented in their CERP papers, they took the case on exactly those terms. They argued about the circuit split, they argued about the merits. They said this case was narrow and was only going to affect a sliver of plaintiffs who were in In Ava's position, children facing discrimination at school. Now, though, they are trying to make this case about everyone about 44 million Americans with disabilities who are protected by reasonable accommodations and who would suffer under the bad faith and gross misjudgment test that they are putting before the court for the first time. Well,
if that's true, Counsel, then nobody is defending the position that you challenged. Is that right?
I think at this point the other side has conceded that that position is indefensible, and then therefore they aren't defending it. I think they have one amicus who filed a brief that seems to be defending them hand test.
Well, and yet that position that you are attacking was the majority position, right?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What legal question does the Supreme Court need to resolve in AJT v. Osseo Area Schools?
0:00–11:13
2
How does the district’s new “bad‑faith or gross misjudgment” theory differ from the Monahan test?
11:13–21:47
3
Why do the parties argue that the ADA and Rehabilitation Act should not require a heightened intent standard for school‑age plaintiffs?
21:47–33:45
4
What is the difference between “deliberate indifference” and “bad‑faith” as standards for disability discrimination?
33:45–45:21
5
How do the courts treat damages versus injunctive relief under the ADA and Section 504?
45:21–55:24
6
What impact would overturning Monahan have on public‑school funding and liability?
55:24–1:06:26
7
How do the Justices’ questions about intent, animus, and statutory text shape the case?
1:06:26–1:16:24
8
What are the petitioners’ final arguments for rejecting the radical standard and vacating the lower‑court decision?
1:16:24–1:26:03