Another ruling: Suspected Nazi must testify

In this story:

• HIV ruling
• Virus is 'physical impairment'
• Defeat for suspected Nazi collaborator
• Related stories and sites

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Having HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is a disability covered by federal anti-discrimination protection, the Supreme Court said on Thursday.

In a separate ruling the court said witnesses cannot use their legal right against self-incrimination solely because they fear being prosecuted in another country.

HIV ruling

The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in the HIV case set aside a lower court decision that said Randon Bragdon, a Maine dentist, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) when he refused in 1994 to fill an HIV-infected woman's tooth in his office.

Bragdon said he would treat Sidney Abbott's tooth only at a hospital and she would have to pay the additional cost. Abbott sued under ADA, a federal civil rights law which bars disability discrimination.

Public health authorities say there is no documented case of a dentist contracting the AIDS virus from a patient. But Bragdon contended he should be allowed to use his own judgment on how to safely treat such patients.

HIV is 'physical impairment'

In Thursday's decision, the lower court was ordered to reconsider whether Bragdon violated the disabilities law. "We do not foreclose the possibility that the Court of Appeals may reach the same conclusion it did earlier," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

Kennedy said in his majority opinion that the appeals court should consider:

• "HIV infection satisfies the statutory and regulatory definition of a physical impairment during every stage of the disease."

• The dentist, in deciding how to treat an HIV-infected woman, "had the duty to assess the risk of infection based on the objective, scientific information available to him and others in his profession."

• In deciding whether a health-care provider has violated the disability-protection law, "courts should assess the objective reasonableness of the views of health care professionals without deferring to their individual judgments."

Dissenting in part were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor.

The ADA, signed by President Bush in 1990, protects disabled people against discrimination in jobs, housing and public accommodations such as dentists' offices. Some of the law's most visible results are aids such as wheelchair ramps at countless public places.

The law says people are disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that "substantially limits one or more major life activities."

Defeat for suspected Nazi collaborator

Another of Thursday's Supreme Court rulings was a defeat for Aloyzas Balsys, 85, a suspected Nazi collaborator who now lives in Woodhaven, New York.

The case stemmed from a 1993 subpoena issued by the Justice Department requiring Balsys, a resident alien born in Lithuania, to answer questions about his activities during World War II and his immigration to the United States.

At his deposition, Balsys refused to testify, invoking the privilege against forced self-incrimination. He said his answers could subject him to prosecution in Lithuania, Israel and Germany.

But in its 7-2 ruling the Supreme Court said Balsys had no legal right against self-incrimination based solely on his fear of "foreign prosecution."

He now faces a contempt citation if he continues to refuse providing answers.

The Justice Department had warned that extending the constitutional protection would hurt U.S. law enforcement efforts in deportation cases and against terrorists and drug smugglers.

It said witnesses in a growing number of cases involving criminals who operate internationally may refuse to testify, claiming they face prosecution in another country.

Correspondent Charles Bierbauer, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Supreme Court:
1997-1998 Session

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