Mental Health Law Report articles from January 2006

Mental Health Law Report archives from January 2006

Mental health agenda.(Slants & Trends)
January 1, 2006... MENTAL HEALTH AGENDA. For the first time in the history of the once-a-decade White House Conference on Aging, delegates adopted a major mental health resolution: They called for improving treatment of mental illness and depression among older...

Pinch us!(Slants & Trends)
January 1, 2006... PINCH US! Did the U.S. Supreme Court really just rule unanimously in favor of a plaintiff seeking to sue a state under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Opinions about abrogating states' sovereign immunity are usually split 5-4, and ADA...

Samuel Alito.(Slants & Trends)
January 1, 2006... SAMUEL ALITO will be the next new justice on the Supreme Court, despite a torrent of opposition from disability and mental health legal advocacy groups. The organizations once again successfully got members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to...

Justices agree on right to damages for violations linked to constitution.(ADA Sidestepped)
January 1, 2006... The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in favor of a prisoner seeking relief under the Americans with Disabilities Act is a clear victory for the plaintiff, but might be too narrow to boost the ADA. The notion that the justices could unite...

Senators send message to high court: stop weakening our power to legislate.(The Alito Nomination: Disability Rights)
January 1, 2006... Senate Judiciary Committee members again used a confirmation hearing to take the Supreme Court to task for usurping its authority to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws. Somewhat hidden in the partisan environment of...

Alito would have doomed Rompilla, but promises commitment to precedent.(The Alito Nomination: Capital Punishment)
January 1, 2006... Samuel Alito would be the necessary fifth vote on the Supreme Court to allow people with serious mental illness to be put to death, but he might be sympathetic in extreme cases, his record suggests. A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit,...

Would Samuel Alito.(The Alito Record: Observations)
January 1, 2006... WOULD SAMUEL ALITO have ruled against Olmstead? Given Alito's conservative bent, and that the three most conservative Supreme Court justices dissented in that case, it is a safe bet that he would have. But there is other circumstantial evidence...

Sen. Orrin Hatch.(The Alito Record: Observations)
January 1, 2006... SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-Utah) wanted the committee to know that Alito, as a 3rd Circuit judge, has ruled in favor of disability rights in certain cases. He cited Thomas v. Commissioner of Social Security, 294 F.3d 568 (2002), in which Alito found...

Sen. Dick Durbin.(The Alito Record: Observations)
January 1, 2006... SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) cited the 3rd District ruling in Pirolli v. World Flavors, 263 F.3d 159 (2001), in which a man with mental retardation alleged that he was physically harassed and sexually assaulted by his coworkers. In a partial...

Involuntary commitment need not end if judge thinks competency is fleeting.(Tavares, In re)
January 1, 2006... In Re Tavares, Nov. 10, 2005 Supreme Court of Rhode Island 885 A.2d 139, No. 2002-604-M.P. Courts must have the discretion to extend defendants' involuntary commitment after they are found competent in order to guarantee that the...

Involuntary medication.(U.S. v. White)
January 1, 2006... INVOLUNTARY MEDICATION U.S. v. White, Nov. 21, 2005 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 431 F.3d 431, No. 04-31137 The government should almost always exhaust administrative procedures before allowing involuntary medication, a...

Mental health records.(Rulings)
January 1, 2006... MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS State v. Gonzales, Nov. 4, 2005 Supreme Court of Utah 2005 UT 72, No. 20020935 A subpoena of a victim's mental health records in which the victim was not aware of the subpoena amounted to a violation of...

Ineffective assistance of counsel.(Daniels v. Woodford)
January 1, 2006... INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL Daniels v. Woodford, Nov. 2, 2005 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 428 F.3d 1181, No. 02-99002 & 02-99003 A defendant who was too paranoid to trust and assist his lawyers had ineffective...

Involuntary medication.(U.S. v. Glover)
January 1, 2006... INVOLUNTARY MEDICATION U.S. v. Glover, Nov. 9, 2005 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Unpublished, No. 04-3337 A district court should have inquired whether the government could seek forced medication of a defendant on an...

Ineffective assistance of counsel.(Howerton v. Danenberg)
January 1, 2006... INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL Howerton v. Danenberg, Nov. 7, 2005 Supreme Court of Georgia 279 Ga. 861, S05A1335 An attorney provided ineffective assistance because he did not investigate the possible side effects of...

Congress is expected to approve first 'money follows person' demonstration.(Legislative Update)
January 1, 2006... Advocates for people with disabilities and mental illness are pleased that Congress seems likely to fund a demonstration under the Money Follows the Person program, but are disappointed that Medicaid premiums and cost-sharing are being...

Habeas reform.
January 1, 2006... HABEAS REFORM--The Streamlined Procedures Act, introduced in the House last year as H.R. 3035 and in the Senate as S. 1088, is still stuck in committee. A House Judiciary subcommittee held its second hearing on the legislation Nov. 10, and the...

Veterans' services.(Legislative Update)
January 1, 2006... VETERANS' SERVICES--The Senate has passed a veterans' health care bill that includes several mental health provisions. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) sponsored the bill and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) sponsored most of these provisions: *...

Veterans' services II.(Legislative Update)
January 1, 2006... VETERANS' SERVICES II--The Senate also has passed a bill that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to employ up to 50 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to provide outreach to veterans on the availability of readjustment...

Parity.(Legislative Update)
January 1, 2006... PARITY--Congress once again is likely to pass a one-year extension of the 1996 mental health insurance parity law instead of passing new, expanded parity that is introduced every Congress but stalls every time. The House tax reconciliation bill...

Sex offenders.(Legislative Update)
January 1, 2006... SEX OFFENDERS--The House and Senate have both passed competing bills to expand sex offender registration but have not yet acted on the other chamber's bill. The House bill, the Children's Safety Act (H.R. 3132), includes more language on the...

Mental health becomes priority topic at aging conference for the first time.
January 1, 2006... The American Psychological Association, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and other organizations are applauding the inclusion of mental health issues in a priority resolution of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, held last...

National Disability Council urges better long-term care services and supports.(Disability Report)
January 1, 2006... The National Council on Disability is calling on Congress and the administration to reform the long-term services and supports (LTSS) system to better serve people with disabilities and the elderly. The LTSS system, which includes housing,...

Feds modify rules on NCLB testing of students with severe disabilities.(Disability Report)
January 1, 2006... The Department of Education has proposed regulations providing for greater flexibility in testing students with disabilities under the No Child Left Behind law. This "2 percent solution" allows the use of modified assessments to test up to 2...

Another IDEA.(Disability Report)
January 1, 2006... ANOTHER IDEA--The Supreme Court has agreed to hear another case revolving around the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Arlington Central School District v. Murphy, No. 05-0018, is an appeal from a ruling last year by the 2nd U.S....

Employment issues.(Disability Report)
January 1, 2006... EMPLOYMENT ISSUES--The National Council on Disability is gathering information on the issues that persons with disabilities encounter in seeking and maintaining employment. The Rutgers University Program for Disability Research is facilitating...