Victory in Lathus v.

Victory in Lathus v. United States Expected to Transform Disability Rights for Millions of Americans

Washington, D.C. — 12-10-25
A landmark disability-rights case, Lathus v. United States, brought by a disabled pro se litigant, has set the stage for the most significant civil-rights transformation inside the federal judiciary since Tennessee v. Lane (2004).

For the first time in American legal history, a disabled individual—acting without legal counsel—has successfully forced the U.S. Department of Justice to defend the federal judiciary itself under the Rehabilitation Act for alleged discrimination, denial of accommodations, and systemic exclusion from meaningful access to justice.

If the Court of Federal Claims rules in favor of the plaintiff, the decision will reshape how the federal courts treat disabled individuals, creating nationwide protections and procedural reforms that affect millions.

A Victory Could Trigger Major Nationwide Reforms

A ruling in favor of the plaintiff would:

• Establish that federal courts are subject to disability-rights laws, including the Rehabilitation Act.
• Require all federal courthouses to maintain publicly accessible ADA/504 coordinators and consistent accommodation procedures.
• Reform court systems to ensure meaningful access for disabled litigants, including e-filing rights, remote appearances, accessible deadlines, and speech-related accommodations.
• Prohibit clerks and judges from engaging in disability-based procedural discrimination, gatekeeping, or retaliation.
• Create enforceable remedies for disabled people harmed by discriminatory judicial procedures—something that has never existed before.
• Launch a systemic review by the DOJ of how disabled individuals are treated across all 94 federal judicial districts.

This would mark the first time in American history that disabled individuals possess a clear, enforceable mechanism to challenge access failures inside the federal courts themselves.

A Pro Se Litigant Made History

The plaintiff, Joseph William Lathus, brought the case after encountering repeated administrative and procedural barriers in both state and federal courts, including:

• denial of disability accommodations,
• dismissal of filings without ADA review,
• refusal to allow accessible filing methods,
• clerical obstruction,
• mishandling of disability-related medical information, and
• retaliatory judicial action by state officials.

The Court of Federal Claims accepted the complaint, served the Department of Justice, and assigned a federal judge—demonstrating the case’s legitimacy and national importance.

The First Case to Bridge ADA Civil Rights and Judicial Accountability

While Tennessee v. Lane held that disabled litigants must have physical access to state courts, Lathus v. United States asks the next logical question:

What happens when the barrier is not a flight of stairs, but the judicial system itself?

If successful, Lathus will become the first case in U.S. history to require federal courts to adopt measurable disability-rights standards for:

• clerk operations,
• judicial procedures,
• filing accessibility,
• IFP determinations,
• communication accommodations, and
• administrative practices.

A Historic Moment for Disabled Americans

“A victory in Lathus v. United States would signal the beginning of a new era in disability rights,” said independent legal analysts following the case.
“It would extend the principles of Lane into the internal machinery of the federal courts and ensure that disabled Americans receive equal access to justice nationwide.”

Media Contact:

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