On December 20, 2011 the opening brief was filed in an appeal involving the rights of people disabled by electromagnetic radiation. The reply brief was filed February 21, 2012.
The case, Firstenberg v. City of Santa Fe, was originally filed in state district court in New Mexico to assert the rights of people with disabilities whose lives are threatened by the proliferation of cell towers.
The rights at issue are fundamental. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires municipalities to consider the needs of people with disabilities in zoning decisions. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees to every person the equal protection of the laws, and says that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
AT&T, also a party to the lawsuit, removed the case to federal district court, where Judge James A. Parker ruled that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 preempts the ADA. He also ruled that people with disabilities are not entitled to the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment if it would interfere with the construction of a national wireless telecommunications network. This has been appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
You can read more about the case on our Litigation Page.
Donations toward this appeal can be made on this website.