The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed unlikely to agree to overturn decades of precedent in a case about civil rights lawsuits, a result that would preserve the ability of individuals to use federal law to sue.
The justices had been asked to use a case about a nursing home resident who claimed a violation of his rights to more broadly limit the right to sue. The justices were told that result could leave tens of millions of people who have rights under federal programs including Medicare and Medicaid without access to the courts.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out the repercussions of doing so. “Neither the federal government nor the states can possibly investigate and remedy every violation of these rights that are given to people,” she said, adding that federal law “speaks clearly” that people have a right to go to court. “Why shouldn’t we just respect our precedent?” she asked.
But the court has previously said that a section of federal law — “Section 1983″ — applies universally to give people the right to sue government workers when they violate rights created by any federal statute. On that narrower question, it wasn’t clear the court would rule Section 1983 lawsuits are permitted. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the nursing home legislation “says rights over and over again” but also noted that there’s a separate administrative process set up for people to complain when their rights are violated. “What’s wrong with an administrative process ... if it’s comprehensive and works?” He asked at one point.
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