to this Court’s attention. See ECF No. 20-1. The purpose of this Statement of Interest is to reiterate the United States’ position on the applicability of Title II of the ADA to law enforcement activities and to clarify that the law does not create a categorical exception for law enforcement personnel during exigent circumstances. Title II Applies to All Law Enforcement Activities, Including Stops and Arrests. 1. The Language of the Statute, and the Department of Justice Regulations and Guidance, Make Plain That Title II Applies to Arrests. Title II’s antidiscrimination provision provides that no individual with a disability “shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.” 42 U.S.C. § 12132. The starting point in determining the ADA’s applicability to law enforcement operations is the statutory text. See Pennsylvania Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 209–10 (1998) (ruling that state prisons “fall squarely within the statutory definition of ‘public entity’” in Title II of the ADA). By its plain terms, Title II applies to all governmental entities, including law enforcement agencies. Title II uses the term “any” in its ordinary “expansive” sense, i.e., “one or some indiscriminately of whatever kind.” United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S. 1, 5 (1997) (citation omitted). Moreover, the statutory text contains no “exception that could cast the coverage of” law enforcement entities “into doubt.” Yeskey, 524 U.S. at 209. Accordingly, law enforcement agencies fall within the ADA’s comprehensive definition of a public entity. The statutory text further demonstrates that law enforcement entities are subject to Title II’s antidiscrimination mandate with respect to all of their operations, including arrests. The reference to “services, programs, or activities,” 42 U.S.C. § 12132, is an all-inclusive phrase that covers everything a public entity does. Notably, Congress expressly defined the term “[p]rogram
or activity” in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., which served as the model for Title II, to “mean[ ] all of the operations of ” a covered entity. See 29 U.S.C. § 794(b). Because Congress directed that Title II should not “be construed to apply a lesser standard than the standards applied under” Section 504, 42 U.S.C. § 12201(a), the phrase “services, programs, or activities” carries a similarly broad meaning under the ADA. See Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624, 631–32 (1998). The statute further protects individuals with disabilities from being “subjected to discrimination,” 42 U.S.C. § 12132, which can occur during any aspect of an individual’s interaction with a public entity. The statute therefore extends to all law enforcement operations, including arrests. The legislative history confirms that Congress contemplated that Title II would apply to law enforcement operations generally, and to arrests in particular. The House Report specified that Title II’s antidiscrimination mandate would “extend[ ] . . . to all actions of state and local governments.” H.R. Rep. No. 101-485 (II), at 84 (1990) (emphasis added). The Report further singled out arrests as an example of an activity where “discriminatory treatment based on disability can be avoided by proper training.” Id. Pt. 3, at 50. In addition, legislators emphasized that Title II would address discrimination in law enforcement, including the arrest of individuals with disabilities. See, e.g., 136 Cong. Rec. 11,461 (1990) (“Many times, deaf persons who are arrested are put in handcuffs. But many deaf persons use their hands to communicate. . . . [T]hese mistakes . . . constitute discrimination.”); id. at E1913, E1916 (daily ed. June 13, 1990) (“[P]ersons who have epilepsy are sometimes inappropriately arrested because police officers have not received proper training to recognize seizures and to respond to them.”). Congress thus expected and intended Title II to cover all law enforcement operations in accordance with the statute’s plain text.