Search our Site:

sitemap

Casey Martin in the News
Casey Martin update January 2008
Here is a good reference page about Casey Martin v. the PGA and a link to our Amicus Brief -->
  • PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin
  • The K-T Support Group has filed an Amicus Brief

    • Supreme Court: Casey Martin Can Ride in Cart

    by James Vicini Tuesday, May 29, 2001 11:24 AM EDT

  • Read the U. S. Supreme Court's Decision (49 pages. Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
    • http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/29may20011200/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/00pdf/00-24.pdf - - - - -
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a federal anti- discrimination law requires that disabled golfer Casey Martin be allowed to ride in a cart between shots, rather than walk the course, during professional competition. By a 7-2 vote, the high court dealt a major setback to the PGA Tour, the premier U.S. professional golf tour, which argued that changing its rules for one player's physical condition would fundamentally alter the competition.
    Justice John Paul Stevens, an avid golfer, said for the court majority that the law at issue, the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibited the PGA from denying Martin equal access to its tours on the basis of his disability.
    He said allowing Martin, who suffers from a painful circulatory disorder in his right leg that makes it difficult for him to walk long distances, to use a golf cart, despite the PGA's walking requirement, would not fundamentally alter the nature of the tour.
    Stevens said the walking rule was neither an essential attribute of the game itself nor an indispensable feature of tournament golf.
    The U.S. Justice Department had supported Martin, saying the law applied because the PGA organizes the tournaments and invites the public.
    Martin sued the PGA Tour in 1997, saying its policy of prohibiting players from using carts during tournaments violated the disabilities law. Martin, who turns 29 on Saturday, was a college teammate of golf superstar Tiger Woods at Stanford University in the mid-1990s. Martin, not currently a regular member of the PGA Tour, plays on the Buy.Com Tour where PGA rules also apply. He may play in some regular Tour events if offered a sponsor's exemption.
    The Supreme Court affirmed a federal appeals court ruling that Martin, who wears a strong support stocking to keep the swelling down in his leg, must be allowed to use a cart. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia wrote that in his view the court's opinion "exercises a benevolent compassion that the law does not place it within our power to impose."
    He said the court's judgement "distorts" the text and structure of the law and distorts "common sense."
    Scalia said: "The lesson the PGA Tour and other sports organizations should take from this case is to make sure that the same written rules are set forth for all levels of play and never voluntarily to grant any modifications. The second lesson is to end open tryouts.
    "I doubt that, in the long run, even disabled athletes will be well served by these incentives that the court has created," Scalia said, adding that sports organizations like the PGA would be "second-guessed" by the courts.

    PGA v. ADA



    Thursday, January 25, 2001; Page A18

    THE CASE OF disabled pro golfer Casey Martin should not even be in court, let alone at the Supreme Court -- where it was argued last week. And if the Professional Golfers Association Tour were a trifle less obtuse, it wouldn't be. Mr. Martin has a circulatory disorder that makes it impossible for him to walk the length of the course during tournaments, an aspect of competition the PGA Tour considers an essential part of elite professional golf. The association consequently refused to waive the walking requirement for Mr. Martin and let him use a golf cart. Mr. Martin, in turn, sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act and obtained a court order forcing the PGA Tour to let him ride. For now at least, he continues to play, but the PGA Tour has asked the Supreme Court to step in and declare that federal law has nothing to say about the rules of golf and that the association can therefore make Mr. Martin either take a walk or take a hike.

    If the PGA had either a sporting sense of fair play or any public relations savvy at all, this matter never would have been litigated. The circumstance, after all, of an athlete at once capable enough to perform professionally at an elite level and disabled in a manner that precludes his compliance with one of the game's marginal rules is exceptionally improbable. The PGA could have accommodated Mr. Martin with no long-term damage to its sacred principles.

    The ADA was written to prevent job discrimination against people with disabilities and to ensure the availability of public accommodations and facilities to them. By forcing the courts to apply the ADA in a situation so removed from its purpose, this case risks creating law that will then be applied unhelpfully to more typical situations. The court ought to handle this case as narrowly as possible so as to avoid this problem. And somehow, it would be good if Mr. Martin were permitted to continue playing golf.

    © 2001 The Washington Post Company

    The K-T Support Group had filed amicus curiae, friend-of-the-court, briefs at the Court of Appeals and at the U.S. Supreme Court in the PGA Tour v. Casey Martin litigation.

    The Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome Support Group is proud to have filed an amicus brief in support of Casey Martin, as the appeal from the PGA goes forward. This brief was prepared by K-T Support Group Legal Advisor, Brian Shannon, Professor of Law, Texas Tech University, School of Law, 1802 Hartford, Lubbock, Texas, 79409-0004 and is available to read, by clicking here: "Amicus Brief" 

    Due to the media interest in the golfer with K-T, Casey Martin's law suit against the PGA, we are listing sites where you may find further information about Casey and the trial.

    Return to the K-T home page.