The Two‐Inquiry Rule for Service Animals and Free Speech

Abstract

The Department of Justice's regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act allow two inquiries about whether a dog is a service animal. These regulations have been in place for almost 15 years but have generated little litigation over what is plainly a content‐based speech prohibition. Most recently, in Stalder v. Colorado Mesa University, a Colorado court of appeals held that a Colorado Mesa University staff member's “reasonable suspicion” that a student's dog was not a genuine service animal did not justify an inquiry into the student's medical records or the dog's training history before the staff member authorized access to a campus gym (https://bit.ly/3yLEJnC).