Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

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Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Long title	An Act to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability
Acronyms (colloquial)	ADA
Nicknames	Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Enacted by	the 101st United States Congress
Effective	July 26, 1990
Citations
Public law	101-336
Statutes at Large	104 Stat. 327
Codification
Titles amended	42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare
U.S.C. sections created	42 U.S.C. ch. 126 § 12101 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 933 by Tom Harkin (D–IA) on May 9, 1989 Committee consideration by Senate Labor and Human Resources Passed the Senate on September 7, 1989 76–8  Passed the House on May 22, 1990 (unanimous voice vote) Reported by the joint conference committee on July 12, 1990; agreed to by the House on July 12, 1990 (377–28) and by the Senate on July 13, 1990 (91–6) Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990
Major amendments
ADA Amendments Act of 2008
United States Supreme Court cases
Pennsylvania Dept. of Corrections v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206 (1998) Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624 (1998) Wright v. Universal Maritime Service Corp., 525 U.S. 70 (1999) Cleveland v. Policy Management Systems Corp., 526 U.S. 795 (1999) Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc., 527 U.S. 471 (1999) Murphy v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 527 U.S. 516 (1999) Albertson's, Inc. v. Kirkingburg, 527 U.S. 555 (1999) Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999) Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (2001) PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661 (2001) Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002) EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279 (2002) US Airways, Inc. v. Barnett, 535 U.S. 391 (2002) Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Echazabal, 536 U.S. 73 (2002) Barnes v. Gorman, 536 U.S. 181 (2002) Clackamas Gastroenterology Associates, P.C. v. Wells, 538 U.S. 440 (2003) Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 540 U.S. 44 (2003) Tennessee v. Lane, 541 U.S. 509 (2004) Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., 545 U.S. 119 (2005) United States v. Georgia, 546 U.S. 151 (2006) Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 565 U.S. 171 (2012) City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan, No. 13-1412, 575 U.S. ___ (2015) Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, No. 22–429, 601 U.S. ___ (2023) Stanley v. City of Sanford, No. 23-997, 604 U.S. ___ (2025)

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964,^[1] which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations.^[2]

In 1986, the National Council on Disability had recommended the enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. A broad bipartisan coalition of legislators supported the ADA, while the bill was opposed by business interests (who argued the bill imposed costs on business) and conservative evangelicals (who opposed protection for individuals with HIV).^[3] The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush. It was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1, 2009.^[4]