Flashcards Studio

Congress enacted the Equal Access to Courts Act under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Act requires states to provide sign-language interpreters in all criminal, civil, and administrative hearings when a party has a hearing disability. Congress compiled hearings showing that many state courts had denied interpreters in criminal arraignments and family-law hearings. The Act also creates a damages action against any private landlord who refuses to rent to a tenant with a disability, based on Congress's finding that private discrimination is widespread. Finally, the Act declares that any failure to provide an interpreter is itself a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
A state and a private landlord challenge the Act. Congress argues that it may enforce equality and access to courts through broad prophylactic rules.
Analyze Congress's power to enact each part of the Act.