Hillary Clinton

Democrats and until recently Republicans have at least in theory seen people with disabilities as having rights that are entitled to respect. The principles of equality inBrown v. Board of Education led to special education cases in which courts found that students with disabilities had constitutional rights. Congress enacted in 1975 the Education for all Handicapped Children Act, the predecessor to today’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. 

DOnald Trump

Democrats and until recently Republicans have at least in theory seen people with disability as having rights that are entitled to respect. The principles of equality inBrown v. Board of Education led to special education cases in which courts found that students with disabilities had constitutional rights. Congress enacted in 1975 the Education for all Handicapped Children Act, the predecessor to today’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Trump wants to fill Scalia’s spot with judges who are very skeptical of civil rights claims; who would not see anything in the Constitution beyond what was expected in 1789 — a point at which citizenship was restricted to white men who owned property. The judges he has proposed to elevate to the Supreme Court aren’t really originalists — no one is — but almost all of them have very troubling records on interpreting statutes that aim to protect people with disabilities, often keeping cases from going to juries and sometimes overturning jury determinations in favor of people with disabilities.

Almost all the judges on his list of possible Supreme Court nominees have very troubling records on interpreting statutes that aim to protect people with disabilities, often keeping cases from going to juries and sometimes overturning jury determinations in favor of people with disabilities. In addition, the next president will make many district court and court of appeals appointments, as Republicans in the Senate have refused to consider President Obama’s recent nominations, leaving many seats vacant and delaying access to justice. Trump seems to confuse following federal laws with charity: he denied that he would have mocked a New York Times reporter with a disability, saying "I spend millions of dollars making buildings good for people that are disabled, okay? Millions and millions of dollars. Do you think I’d ever do a thing like that?" [source]

In January 2016, Trump backed out of a pre-caucus debate in Iowa and held an event to raise money for veterans instead; he resisted questions about how much it brought in, and apparently started donating money only four months later, after theWashington Post called him out for not having done so. [source] Even Trump’s family experience with disability is not a profile in compassion. During a lawsuit over his father’s will, he tried to cut off medical insurance for the family of a nephew whose infant son was disabled and required extraordinarily costly medical care. He said he was “angry” that his deceased brother Fred’s son had sued, claiming that Donald and his siblings had exercised undue influence over their father, who had Alzheimer’s, to secure a greater inheritance for their children than for Fred Jr.’s. [source]

Trump seems to view people with disabilities as warranting compassion rather than justice and, despite his wealth and prominence, appears not to display the compassion he espouses. His charitable donations seem to be minimal. [source] The Trump Foundation has been ordered to suspend operations because it did not register as a foundation soliciting donations nor did it make the disclosures required of such foundations. [source] Unfortunately, the Trump Foundation also does not seem to be a charity in any traditional sense, and appears to have been operating illegally in numerous respects. [source] [source] [source]