Cite as: 541 U. S. 509 (2004)
Opinion of the Court
persons by state agencies in a variety of settings, including
unjustified commitment, e. g., Jackson v. Indiana, 406 U. S.
715 (1972); the abuse and neglect of persons committed to
state mental health hospitals, Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U. S.
307 (1982); 10 and irrational discrimination in zoning decisions, Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U. S.
432 (1985). The decisions of other courts, too, document a
pattern of unequal treatment in the administration of a wide
range of public services, programs, and activities, including
the penal system," public education,'12 and voting.13
Nota-
bly, these decisions also demonstrate a pattern of unconstitu14
tional treatment in the administration of justice.
10 The undisputed findings of fact in Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U. S. 1 (1981), provide another example of such
mistreatment. See id., at 7 ("Conditions at Pennhurst are not only dangerous, with the residents often physically abused or drugged by staff
members, but also inadequate for the 'habilitation' of the retarded").
11
E. g., LaFaut v. Smith, 834 F. 2d 389, 394 (CA4 1987) (paraplegic inmate unable to access toilet facilities); Schmidt v. Odell, 64 F. Supp. 2d
1014 (Kan. 1999) (double amputee forced to crawl around the floor of jail).
See also, e.g., Key v. Grayson, 179 F. 3d 996 (CA6 1999) (deaf inmate
denied access to sex offender therapy program allegedly required as precondition for parole).
12
E. g., New York State Assn. for Retarded Children, Inc. v. Carey, 466
F. Supp. 487, 504 (EDNY 1979) (segregation of mentally retarded students
with hepatitis B); Mills v. Board of Ed. of District of Columbia, 348
F. Supp. 866 (DC 1972) (exclusion of mentally retarded students from public school system). See also, e. g., Robertson v. Granite City Community
Unit School Dist. No. 9, 684 F. Supp. 1002 (SD Ill. 1988) (elementary-school
student with AIDS excluded from attending regular education classes or
participating in extracurricular activities); Thomas v. Atascadero Unified
School Dist., 662 F. Supp. 376 (CD Cal. 1986) (kindergarten student with
AIDS excluded from class).
13 E. g., Doe v. Rowe, 156 F. Supp. 2d 35 (Me. 2001) (disenfranchisement
of persons under guardianship by reason of mental illness). See also, e. g.,
New York ex rel. Spitzer v. County of Delaware,82 F. Supp. 2d 12 (NDNY
2000) (mobility-impaired voters unable to access county polling places).
14
E. g., Ferrell v. Estelle, 568 F. 2d 1128, 1132-1133 (CA5) (deaf criminal
defendant denied interpretive services), opinion withdrawn as moot, 573
F. 2d 867 (1978); State v. Schaim, 65 Ohio St. 3d 51, 64, 600 N. E. 2d 661,