Attorney appeals to U.S. Supreme Court to keep Massachusetts center for people with developmental disabilities open

From The AP:

BOSTON—An attorney representing supporters of the Fernald Developmental Center has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the planned transfer of more than 150 developmentally disabled residents.

Hofstra University Law School professor Leon Friedman, a noted constitutional law scholar, drafted and filed a petition last week on behalf of families of Fernald residents fighting the planned closure of Fernald.

"We're very excited about this case and the major issue we think it will present for the first time to the Supreme Court," said Beryl Cohen, an attorney who has represented Fernald families for more than 35 years.

The appeal is yet another chapter in the long legal dispute between the state of Massachusetts and families of Fernald residents. For years, the state has tried to close the Waltham center -- the nation's oldest publicly funded facility for people with developmental disabilities. Many of its residents have lived there for decades.

In February 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro halted transfers from Fernald and asked U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan to investigate whether the state followed rules on transfers after former Gov. Mitt Romney announced plans to close the facility.

Gov. Deval Patrick opted to stay with plans to close Fernald, and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October that shutdown plans could continue.

Patrick has said the facility needed between $14 million and $20 million in capital improvements, and the state's Department of Health and Human Services has said Fernald is the most expensive of the state's six facilities for people with mental retardation.

David Kassel, a spokesman for the Fernald League for the Retarded, a group seeking to keep Fernald open, said they expect the Supreme Court to decide by this spring whether it will hear the appeal.

Health and Human Services spokeswoman Jennifer Kritz said state lawyers are reviewing the petition and will respond within 30 days.