[Ads-l] Neil Gorsuch, dictionaries, and =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=9CThe_?=Case of the Frozen Trucker"

[Baker, John]

Having criticized Dennis on his previous post, I want to defend him on this one.  I found his discussion interesting and insightful.  I hope ADS-L will not shy away from language discussions just because they occasionally have political implications.  

To clarify what happened with respect to the special education dispute:  Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a disabled child is entitled to a free appropriate public education.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (Judge Gorsuch's court) said in 1996 that, for a severely handicapped child, the benefit conferred must be "more than de minimis"; the quality of the education was not in question in that case, except for the child's failure to receive certain transition services.  Urban v. Jefferson Co. School, 89 F.3d 720 (10th Cir. 1996), https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/153661/urban-v-jefferson-co-school/.  Judge Gorsuch wrote an opinion in 2008, involving an autistic child's rights under the Act, that cited the Urban case for the proposition that "the educational benefit mandated by IDEA must merely be 'more than de minimis.'"  Thompson R2-J School v. Luke P. ex rel. Jeff P., 540 F.3d 1143 (10th Cir. 2008), https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/171177/thompson-r2-j-school-v-luke-p-ex-rel-jeff-p/.  Note that the 1996 case did not say "merely," and it did not generalize the statement to children with other than severe handicaps (although the child in the 2008 case was severely handicapped), so Judge Gorsuch arguably misstated the precedent on which he relied.  Finally, the Tenth Circuit in 2015, in a case, involving another autistic child, on which Judge Gorsuch did not sit but which relied on his 2008 opinion, ruled that it was sufficient that the school district was actively working to address the child’s disability-related behaviors and that he made some academic progress despite his behavioral challenges.  It was this case, linked by Bill, that the Supreme Court overruled, in an opinion that explicitly rejected the Tenth Circuit's "merely more than de minimis" standard, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-827_0pm1.pdf.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2017 9:54 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Neil Gorsuch, dictionaries, and “The Case of the Frozen Trucker"



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Baron, Dennis E
> Sent: Friday, March 24, 2017 12:12 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Neil Gorsuch, dictionaries, and “The Case of the Frozen Trucker"
> 
> All active links contained in this email were disabled.  Please verify the identity of the sender, and confirm the authenticity of all links
> contained within the message prior to copying and pasting the address to a Web browser.
> 
> 
> 
> There’s a new post on the Web of Language:
> 
> Neil Gorsuch, dictionaries, and “The Case of the Frozen Trucker.”
> 
> Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is getting well-deserved shade for favoring employers in legal disputes. As he began his Senate
> confirmation hearings, the Supreme Court, which Gorsuch hopes to join, unanimously overturned his decision siding with a school board
> against an autistic pupil in a special education dispute.<Caution-https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-827_0pm1.pdf> 

I participate in the ADS-L to get away from politics, and appreciate it very much when other members also refrain.

But if you have to bring it here, at least get it right.  The decision in the Endrew case was not "his", it was the decision of Judge Timothy Tymkovich.
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/15-827-opinion-below.pdf
Gorsuch wasn't even on the three-judge panel that decided the case.




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