Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why does it take so long to reach a decision. How does this play out?
I'm not a special needs parent, I'm a lawyer. The decisions take a long time because the drafter of the majority opinion sends around their draft, the drafter of the dissent sends around their draft, and they can all change their votes depending on the opinion's language, or they can write concurring or dissenting opinions themselves. All of the decisions are handed down in the final week of the session in June because it takes a lot of time and arguing to formulate the full opinion/dissent package.
It's really frustrating, I hope the majority sides with the kids in this one. We need more resources toward education, not fewer (all types of education, not just SN, just all the way around we need to put our money where our mouths are and fund education).
Thank you for explaining this. Thank you also for your support. We have some people post here who are not SN parents and often they share resentment. It's so refreshing to have someone on our side who didn't need to walk in our shoes in order to understand why this is so important.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why does it take so long to reach a decision. How does this play out?
I'm not a special needs parent, I'm a lawyer. The decisions take a long time because the drafter of the majority opinion sends around their draft, the drafter of the dissent sends around their draft, and they can all change their votes depending on the opinion's language, or they can write concurring or dissenting opinions themselves. All of the decisions are handed down in the final week of the session in June because it takes a lot of time and arguing to formulate the full opinion/dissent package.
It's really frustrating, I hope the majority sides with the kids in this one. We need more resources toward education, not fewer (all types of education, not just SN, just all the way around we need to put our money where our mouths are and fund education).
Anonymous wrote:Why does it take so long to reach a decision. How does this play out?
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting the update. I wanted to listen to this but Tillerson hearing was in conflict .... sounds like the SCOTUS argument would have been a much more uplifting listen.
For those who want more analysis ... go to SCOTUS Blog http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/01/argument-analysis-justices-grapple-proper-standard-measuring-educational-benefits-children-disabilities/
Ginsburg's support is great, but Chief Robert's support is a little troubling. If he votes to affirm, he will write the opinion and even though that would represent an improvement over the current standard, he would surely write a narrower/lower standard than Ginsburg would.
As much as I love RBG, it's important to note the critical role played by the Obama Administration's Departments of Education and Justice in developing an alternative standard and arguing in support of the plaintiff and against the school system. Without that, the case wouldn't have even reached the SC with a plausible basis for an improved ruling.
We are lucky this case came now and I hope it will not be a 4-4 split, because it wouldn't go well in a reargument under the Trump/DeVoss/Sessions administration.
(See Sessions on IDEA - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/12/02/sen-sessions-once-linked-special-education-law-to-decline-in-civility-in-classrooms/?client=safari)
And, equally important will be how the Department of Ed guides school systems to educate them in what the new standard means in practice. I'm also not holding my breath in a DeVos DoE.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Roberts has been more friendly than you might expect to SN issues -- although he's hardly a raging liberal. He spoke up in another case within the last couple years.
Doesn't he have a child with SN?
Anonymous wrote:Roberts has been more friendly than you might expect to SN issues -- although he's hardly a raging liberal. He spoke up in another case within the last couple years.