| PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued January 17, 2001 Decided May 29, 2001 |
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| Full case name | PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin | |||||
| Prior history | Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |||||
| Subsequent history | 204 F. 3d 994, affirmed. | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| The PGA Tour is required to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer | |||||
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Thomas | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| Americans with Disabilities Act | ||||||
PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661 (2001), was a United States Supreme Court case in which disabled golfer Casey Martin asserted that the PGA Tour could not lawfully deny him the option to ride in a golf cart between shots. Prior to this case, the PGA Tour required all golfers to walk between shots, and argued that this policy constituted an important aspect of the game of golf. The Supreme Court found for Martin in a 7-2 decision.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Martin in a 7-2 decision, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing a dissent. In his dissent, Scalia drew upon Kurt Vonnegut's story, Harrison Bergeron. The Supreme Court found that the PGA Tour should be viewed as a commercial enterprise operating in the entertainment industry for the economic benefit of its members rather than as a private club. It agreed with the Magistrate Judge, Thomas Coffin, that the statutory definition of public accommodation included a "golf course," rejecting the Tour's argument that its competitions are only places of public accommodation in the areas open to spectators. The operator of a public accommodation could not, in Judge Coffin's view, create private enclaves within the facility "… and thus relegate the ADA to hop-scotch areas." The finding was originally upheld by the United States Court for the Ninth Circuit.