E.D.Cal.: No immunity for prison library ADA claim

A California federal magistrate concluded that a prisoner’s Americans with Disabilities Act claim, regarding access to the prison law library, is not barred by sovereign immunity because it alleges a violation of the constitutional right of access to the courts.

Hendon v. CDCR, 2008 WL 2916350 (E.D.Cal. Jul. 25, 2008) (No. CIV S-07-0514). The magistrate was Kimberly J. Mueller.

 

          Hendon alleged that a prison policy excluded him and other prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities from the law library, in violation of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. The court stated that: “There is no significant difference in the analysis of rights and obligations created by” the two laws, and therefore “analysis of the ADA claim will apply with equal force” to the Rehab Act. While generally correct, this statement fails to recognize that sovereign immunity concerns do not apply to the Rehabilitation Act, under which states waive immunity by accepting federal funds.

 

          The magistrate said that state sovereign immunity did not bar the ADA claim because it alleged “conduct that actually violates the Fourteenth Amendment,” citing Tennesse v. Lane, 541 U.S. 509 (2004), and United States v. Georgia, 546 U.S. 151 (2006). The magistrate noted that under Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (1977), prisoners’ constitutional right to access to the courts may include access to the law library. The magistrate further stated that while there was a factual dispute as to whether and to what extent Hendon was actually excluded from the library, “the court cannot say that the plaintiff will be unable to provide that a violation of his [constitutional] rights occurred.” The magistrate also said that the complaint sufficiently pled a violation of the ADA.