Michael Paul Nelson v. North Carolina

People with disabilities often use electronic devices that help compensate for their disabilities. For visually impaired people, “prosthetic eyes” have been and are being developed to compensate for vision issues such as blindness, including video and audio notetaking features. Public entities (e.g., courts) often have policies forbidding the use of recording devices in public areas such as courtrooms. The Questions Presented Are:

1. Does the Confrontation Clause of the 6th Amendment and/or the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment require a criminal court to modify its policies to allow a disabled defendant, who depends on prosthetic devices, to use such prosthetic devices during a criminal trial where the denial of same would effectively prevent the defendant from being present during all aspects of the criminal trial and where his absence frustrates the fairness of the trial?

2. Does at least the Fourteenth Amendment and/or federal anti-discrimination laws require a criminal trial court to provide a path for appellate review, before the trial, of the trial court’s denial of a request for reasonable accommodations and modifications to court procedures, where such denial materially affects or denies a fundamental human right?