Judge Robertson's Order in ACB v. U.S. Treasury Dept.

 

Hello all,

 

We received a copy of Judge Robertson's order just a few minutes ago.  The text appears below my signature.  There is an accompanying memorandum which sets forth the judge's rationale which I will circulate as a separate message.

 

Enjoy this!  It will be a good excuse to party this weekend!

 

Melanie Brunson

 

Text of Order

 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND,:
et al., :
:
Plaintiffs, :
: Civil Action No. 02-0864 (JR)
v. :
:
HENRY M. PAULSON, JR., Secretary:
of the Treasury, :
:
Defendant.

 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT

 

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit having affirmed this Court's Memorandum Order (Amended) of December 1, 2006 [72]:

 

  1. IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the defendant has violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by failing to provide meaningful access to United States currency for blind and other visually impaired persons.
  2. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND DECREED that defendant take such steps as may be required to provide meaningful access to United States currency for blind and other visually impaired persons, which steps shall be completed, in connection with each denomination of currency, not later than the date when a redesign of that denomination is next approved by the Secretary of the Treasury after the entry of this order and judgment.
  3. This Order and Judgment does not apply to the one dollar ($1) note, and does not require the defendant to make any changes to the one dollar ($1) note. This Order and Judgment does not apply to changing the Series year or the signatures of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Treasurer of the United States on each note, nor to changing the machine-readable features on the notes that are not visible to the naked eye. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 above, given that the defendant is currently engaged in implementing a redesign of the $100 note ("the NextGen $100"), the defendant need not comply with paragraph 2 above in connection with the NextGen $100 note until the date when another redesign of such denomination is next approved by the Secretary of the Treasury after the redesign that is currently in progress.
  4. The defendant shall file periodic status reports describing the steps taken to implement this Order and Judgment.  The first such status report shall be filed no later than March 16, 2009, and each succeeding report shall be filed every six months thereafter, until the defendant has fully complied with this Order and Judgment.
  5. The parties are directed to confer and attempt to reach agreement regarding plaintiffs' claim for attorney's fees and costs. If no agreement is reached, plaintiffs shall submit their application for attorney's fees and costs within 60 days of the date of this Order and Judgment.

 

JAMES ROBERTSON
United States District Judge

 

Memorandum

 

Accessible Currency