{"id":20598,"date":"2017-01-13T17:05:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T21:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=20598"},"modified":"2018-09-10T14:59:29","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T18:59:29","slug":"endrew-f-us-supreme-court-argument-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/endrew-f-us-supreme-court-argument-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Endrew F: U.S. Supreme Court Argument Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Endrew%20F%3A%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20Argument%20Analysis\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Update:<\/strong><\/span> On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court in <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/2017\/ussupct.endrew.douglas.15-827.pdf\"><em>Endrew v. Douglas County<\/em> unanimously rejects the \u201cde minimis\u201d standard<\/a><\/span> for one that \u201cis markedly more demanding than the &#8216;merely more than de minimis&#8217; test applied by the 10th Circuit.&#8221; In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts says \u201ca student offered an educational program providing \u2018merely more than de minimis\u2019 progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, January 11, 2017, the U. S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/art\/endrew.douglas.benefit.fape.htm\"><em>Endrew F. v. Douglas Co. Sch. Dist.<\/em><\/a><\/span>, a case about educational benefit and FAPE. Pete and Pam attended and will share their thoughts below.<\/p>\n<p>Amy Howe of Scotusblog writes that, at oral argument, one thing seemed relatively clear:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;The justices were dissatisfied with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit\u2019s ruling that school districts can satisfy federal education law as long as they offer a student with a disability an educational program that provides him or her with a benefit that is more than merely de minimis, or non-trivial.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;It was less clear exactly what standard (if any) the justices might substitute for the \u201cmore than merely de minimis\u201d standard, but a standard \u201cwith bite\u201d \u2013 as Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan put it \u2013 would be a welcome development for children with disabilities and their parents.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/scotusblog.us7.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=0c05b0842a082a00aa39f4d77&amp;id=173a424d4e&amp;e=3616e2a0e4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/inhouse\/scotus.fisher.jpg\" width=\"529\" height=\"376\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The attorney who represented Drew suggested this standard: &#8220;A student\u2019s IEP should generally be tailored to achieve a general educational curriculum at grade level; if that is not possible, the IEP should use alternative benchmarks that are &#8216;the highest possible achievable by the student.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The attorney who represented the school district claimed that Courts have used the &#8220;more than merely de minimis&#8221; standard for decades and recommended keeping that standard.<\/p>\n<p>The Solicitor General, speaking for the United States government, offered a higher standard for a free appropriate public education: that the school must offer &#8220;&#8230; a program that is aimed at significant educational progress in light of the child&#8217;s circumstances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Our take? All the special ed lawyers we talked to felt positive about the tone and statements during oral argument. They thought the justices recognized the problems with the current de minimis standard and felt they would come up with a new improved standard.<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested in a more comprehensive article about oral argument, we recommend this excellent analysis by Amy Howe, reporter at <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/\">Scotusblog<\/a>: <a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"http:\/\/scotusblog.us7.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=0c05b0842a082a00aa39f4d77&amp;id=173a424d4e&amp;e=3616e2a0e4\">Justices grapple with proper standard for measuring educational benefits for children with disabilities<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For those who want to learn how the oral argument unfolded, here is a <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/scotus\/endrew\/2017.0111.oa.transcript.endrew.douglas.pdf\">link to the transcript<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone \" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/inhouse\/endrew.court.steps.copaa.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"311\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Pete and Pam with other <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.copaa.org\">COPAA<\/a> <\/span>members at the Court after <em>Endrew<\/em> oral argument.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>You May Also Like&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Analysis by Pete Wright &#8211; <a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/art\/endrew.douglas.scotus.analysis.htm\"><em>Endrew F. v. Douglas County<\/em>: IDEA Demands More<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6683q-a-Kpg&amp;feature=youtu.be\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><em>Endrew F.<\/em> &#8211; CTLA Case of the Year<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/endrew-f-strikes-again-news-from-the-2e-newsletter\/\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><em>Endrew F.<\/em> Strikes Again! &#8211; News from the 2e Newsletter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Update: On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court in Endrew v. Douglas County unanimously rejects the \u201cde minimis\u201d standard for one that \u201cis markedly more demanding than the &#8216;merely more <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/endrew-f-us-supreme-court-argument-analysis\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1271,45,5],"tags":[42,677,1447,1309],"class_list":["post-20598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism","category-cases","category-idea-2004","tag-autism","tag-educational-benefit","tag-endrew-f-v-douglas","tag-fape"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20598"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23333,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions\/23333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}