Supreme Court Rebuffs Biden Admin, Rules Deaf-Blind Woman Can’t Seek Damages for Denial of Interpreter

Chief Justice John Roberts at the Supreme Court Building in Washington on Nov. 30, 2018. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that a deaf and blind woman may not claim damages for emotional distress for a physical therapy clinic’s decision to deny her an American Sign Language interpreter.

The court’s opinion in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PPLC, court file 20–219, came on April 28 after the case was argued on Nov. 30, 2021.