Constitutional Law

Authors Explore Troubled Times For Seniors' Rights, Consumers In The Courts

Harper Jean Tobin, staff attorney for the National Senior Citizen Law Center and frequent guest blogger for the ACSBlog, examines a string of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that severely undermine seniors’ rights. In the Nov. 3 issue of The Nation, Tobin writes:

A wave of federal court decisions in recent years has made it difficult and sometimes impossible for older Americans to enforce important rights, such as hard-earned pension benefits, freedom from age discrimination, access to long-term care, compensation for injuries caused by faulty medical devices and decent treatment in nursing homes.

Tobin’s article appears in The Nation’s special forum on “The Court: What’s at State.” Other authors include, Georgetown University Law Center Professor and frequent ACS participant, David C. Vladeck. Vladeck explores the increasing politicization of federal regulatory agencies, including those intended to approve safe drugs, and the federal courts’ tendency to support business interests over those of the consumer. In his article, “Safety Last,” Vladeck writes:

Not only are public health agencies headed by political appointees committed more to business interests than to public safety but Bush-appointed pro-business judges now dominate the Supreme Court and the federal bench. And the administration is subverting the tort system by claiming that agency actions ‘pre-empt,’ or wipe away, the right to sue. If this trend continues, the public will soon have the worst of both worlds – agencies that don’t protect them and judges who deny them access to the tort system when they are injured.

Earlier this year, Vladeck authored an ACS Issue Brief on efforts by federal agencies to protect businesses from state tort law claims.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on October 20, 2008 (boomark / email).