Two Tennesseans to testify at Roberts’ hearing

Beverly L. Jones, a paraplegic from Macon County, was selected by Democratic committee members to emphasize the court’s responsibility to ensure that Congress equally protect the disabled, according to Jones’ attorney, William J. Brown of Cleveland, Tenn.

Jones and another paraplegic took the state and 25 counties to court in order to force the courthouses to conform to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring wheelchair access. The Supreme Court disagreed 5-4 with the state’s argument that it was exempt from lawsuits with damages, but former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, whom Roberts clerked under, wrote the minority opinion.

Another Tennessean, a Vanderbilt University law professor chosen by Republican committee members, will testify as to Roberts’ abilities to interpret the Constitution. Christopher Yoo worked for two years under Roberts at a law firm in Washington, D.C., in the late 1980s.

Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson has been leading Roberts through the nomination process and holding meetings between the nominee and senators.

Jones was chosen to testify because the court will rule on a similar case in November, which involves a Georgia inmate who claims he cannot maneuver through the prison due to a design that lacks wheelchair access.

“Perhaps we need to know what he (Roberts) thinks about the ability of Congress to pass laws to ensure that people’s civil rights are not taken away from them,” Brown told the Washington bureau of the Knoxville News Sentinel.