Rule of Law

Gr 9 Up—This documentary discusses the eye-opening and largely unknown court case Tennessee v. Lane, which centered on the rights of people with disabilities, and its impact. After getting into a car accident that left him in a wheelchair, George Lane had to go to court for charges relating to the crash. The courthouse, however, had no elevator, and he was forced to crawl up the stairs to attend his hearing. After refusing to do this a second time, Lane was arrested for failure to appear. The film follows his lawyer as he takes the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The framework of this court case is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on disabilities. The ADA was passed in 1990, only six years before Lane's incident at the courthouse. More background information, such as the history of the ADA and the beliefs of the Supreme Court justices at the time, would have been beneficial to viewers unfamiliar with the subject. The film is a no-frills narrative of what happened, thus serving as an effective example of how the judicial system works. The case was not resolved until 2004, a chilling illustration of how ensuring rights for people with disabilities is an ongoing issue.