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Supreme Court considers parents' need for lawyer
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 28, 2007
WASHINGTON - Parents should not be forced to hire a lawyer to sue public school districts over their children's special education needs, the lawyer for parents of an autistic child told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. "What we're advocating here is access to the courts," said Jean-Claude Andre, who represents Jeff and Sandee Winkelman and their son, Jacob, free of charge in their fight against the Parma, Ohio, school district. The Bush administration and 12 Democratic lawmakers side with the Winkelmans in Winkelman vs. Parma City School District, 05-983. Most federal courts have said parents don't have the right to sue and, if they are not lawyers, cannot represent their children in lawsuits filed under the Individuals With Disabilities in Education Act. People who are not lawyers can represent themselves in court proceedings, but not other parties. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the special education law requires the child to be the plaintiff. The Winkelmans can't afford a lawyer, and neither parent is a lawyer. They wanted the district to pay for Jacob's $56,000 yearly enrollment in a private school. Gitmo prisoners ask for swift ruling Lawyers for Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, foreigners imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear their cases on a rare fast track before the justices' summer break. They want a review of the Military Commissions Act, which limits their ability to challenge their confinement.
[Last modified February 28, 2007, 01:38:11]
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