Do Dollar Bills Discriminate Against the Blind?

Yesterday, a panel of federal appellate judges worried that declaring paper money a violation of the rights of the blind would open the door to lawsuits challenging almost anything visual as illegal, including postage stamps, painting exhibitions, and web sites.

The three judges were hearing the Treasury Department’s appeal of a trial judge’s ruling last year that paper money discriminates against blind people. I discussed that ruling and the controversial lawsuit under the Rehabilitation Act that led to it, here and here.

I discussed (and criticized) here a federal judge’s refusal to dismiss a lawsuit against Target by blind people over its web sites. (That suit was brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act.)

The case alleging that paper money discriminates against the blind is called American Council of the Blind v. Paulson.