Disabled Students Victorious In Supreme Court

On Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools must offer disabled students a special educational program that is sufficiently ambitious to ensure they make progress in school. In what is being called a victory for disabled students everywhere, the Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled in favor of autistic student Endrew F, setting aside a lower court ruling that had found Colorado's Douglas County school district had satisfied federal law by offering Endrew the bare minimum in educational benefits. The judges, however, had found that schools must offer more than the bare minimum to disabled children. The victory is a timely one, given that the the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has come under scrutiny during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Democrats have pointed out that in eight out of 10 cases, Gorsuch - in his capacity as a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge - had sided with school districts rather than the disabled.