Dr. Coates:

Hope things are going well at Miami and that you're ready to begin a new
year.  It has been awhile -- I'm 1995 grad, double major in history and
black world studies;  Irish; from Chicago, Bridgeport neighborhood (how
could you forget that combination).  Anyway, has been awhile since we
last touched base and I thought I'd send an update your way.  After
Teach for America, I went to law school and am at a law firm in Atlanta
practicing in the education, civil rights, and government litigation
group.  My litigation work is varied, but I am spending most of my time
on school finance lawsuits challenging the apportionment of public
school funds among districts -- typically cases in which low property
wealth districts sue the state over the adequacy of the state funding
formula.  Also married my long-time girlfriend, Keecia, just over a year
ago, so we are beginning our journey.

Thought you might be interested in seeing an amicus brief we filed with
the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago on behalf of the Lawyers Committee
for Civil Rights, the NAACP, and a consortium of other civil rights
groups, in Goodman v. Georgia and, United States v. Georgia, a
consolidated case challenging the constitutionality of the Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act.  A PDF version of the brief is
attached.  The Goodman brief is the latest in a series of briefs we have
authored over the past four years on behalf of the Lawyers Committee
arguing that Title II of the ADA validly abrogates state sovereign
immunity.  The issue raised -- under what circumstances may Congress use
its Section 5 power to authorize suits for money damages against the
states for violations of the ADA -- is especially significant for the
Lawyers' Committee, which has a long history of supporting Congress'
attempts to remedy discrimination (and touches on broader themes of
federalism that have become a touchstone of the Rehnquist court).  I
have been fortunate to have worked on 4 of those briefs over the past
few years, but this is the first one that was really all mine
(consistent with typical firm procedure in which the last person on the
sig line works the most on the product).

How has Miami fared over the years?  Must admit that I found it a bit
cloistered after growing up in Chicago, but I have developed a fondness
for the place as the years go by.  Are you still killing 'em with
phenomenology and listening to Harold Melvin? 

Hope all is well.  Please give my best to your family,

Best regards,      

Andrew W. Broy
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
999 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
(404) 853-8000
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<<195777_br.pdf>>

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