628
Opinion of the Court
ing Assistant Attorney General Lee, James A. Feldman, Jessica Dunsay Silver, and Thomas E. Chandler.*
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
We address in this case the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 104 Stat. 327, 42 U. S. C. § 12101 et seq., to persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We granted certiorari to review, first, whether HIV infection is a disability under the ADA when the infection has not yet progressed to the so-called symptomatic phase; and, second, whether the Court of Appeals, in affirming a grant of summary judgment, cited sufficient material in the record to determine, as a matter of law, that respondent's infection with HIV posed no direct threat to the health and safety of her treating dentist. 522 U. S. 991 (1997).
I
Respondent Sidney Abbott (hereinafter respondent) has been infected with HIV since 1986. When the incidents we recite occurred, her infection had not manifested its most serious symptoms. On September 16, 1994, she went to the office of petitioner Randon Bragdon in Bangor, Maine, for a dental appointment. She disclosed her HIV infection on the
*Ann Elizabeth Reesman filed a brief for the Equal Employment Advisory Council as amicus curiae urging reversal.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the City of Los Angeles by James K. Hahn and David I. Schulman; for the AIDS Action Council et al. by Chai R. Feldblum, Steven R. Shapiro, Matthew Coles, and Robert A. Long, Jr.; for the American Medical Association by Carter G. Phillips, Mark E. Haddad, Jack R. Bierig, Michael L. Ile, and Leonard A. Nelson; for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation by Lynn E. Cunningham; for the Infectious Diseases Society of America et al. by Catherine A. Hanssens, Heather C. Sawyer, Beatrice Dohrn, Daniel Bruner, Elizabeth A. Seaton, and Laura M. Flegel; and for Senator Harkin et al. by Arlene Mayerson.
Peter M. Sfikas filed a brief for the American Dental Association as amicus curiae.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007