June 9, 2014, New York, NY – A recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court should clear the way for the U.S. Senate to approve an international treaty designed to promote the rights of people with disabilities worldwide, according to Tom Ridge, Chairman of the National Organization on Disability. Until now, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been stalled in its negotiations on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or Disability Treaty. The Supreme Court has spoken unanimously in the case of Bond v. United States, and established that the balance of powers between the federal government and the states can be maintained with appropriate language added to international treaties like the Disability Treaty.
“As Chairman of the National Organization on Disability, I call on those Republican Senators who used the pending decision as the basis of their opposition to the Treaty to accept the unanimous verdict of the Court and support it,” said Gov. Ridge. “I urge expedited, bipartisan support for this landmark Treaty.
“The Disability Treaty would export American leadership and values abroad, and protect Americans, including the 5.5 million American veterans with disabilities, from inaccessibility and discrimination when they wish to work, study, or travel overseas. Ratification of the Treaty would be a victory not only for those whose rights are protected, but for the ideals of freedom and equality for all that are the bedrock on which this nation was built.”