Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 700.0

524US2

Unit: $U96

[09-15-00 14:39:49] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 524 U. S. 624 (1998)

655

Stevens, J., concurring

portance to health care workers not just for the result but
also for the precision and comprehensiveness of the reasons
given for the decision.

We conclude the proper course is to give the Court of Ap-
peals the opportunity to determine whether our analysis of
some of the studies cited by the parties would change its
conclusion that petitioner presented neither objective evi-
dence nor a triable issue of fact on the question of risk.
In
remanding the case, we do not foreclose the possibility that
the Court of Appeals may reach the same conclusion it did
earlier. A remand will permit a full exploration of the issue
through the adversary process.

The determination of the Court of Appeals that respond-
ent’s HIV infection was a disability under the ADA is af-
ﬁrmed. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded
for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Breyer joins,

concurring.

The Court’s opinion demonstrates that respondent’s HIV
infection easily falls within the statute’s deﬁnition of “disabil-
ity.” Moreover, the Court’s discussion in Part III of the rel-
evant evidence has persuaded me that the judgment of the
Court of Appeals should be afﬁrmed.
I do not believe peti-
tioner has sustained his burden of adducing evidence sufﬁ-
cient to raise a triable issue of fact on the signiﬁcance of the
risk posed by treating respondent in his ofﬁce. The Court
of Appeals reached that conclusion after a careful and exten-
sive study of the record; its analysis on this question was
perfectly consistent with the legal reasoning in Justice
Kennedy’s opinion for the Court; and the latter opinion
itself explains that petitioner relied on data that were in-
conclusive and speculative at best, see ante, at 653–654.
Cf. General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U. S. 136 (1997).