Hunsaker

Contra Costa County and several of its administrators (County) appeal from a permanent injunction. Hunsaker and others in the plaintiff class (Hunsaker) obtained the injunction which prevented the County from administering the Substance Abuse Screening Inventory (test), a pen-and-paper screening test, to applicants for the County’s general assistance program. According to Hunsaker, the test had a disparate impact on recovered and recovering drug and alcohol addicts and thus violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (Act).

The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1367. The County timely appealed, and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a)(1). We reverse and remand.

I

In accordance with state law, the County provides general assistance benefits to the indigent and requires chemically dependent beneficiaries to participate in General Assistance Alcohol and Drug Diversion Services (program), a treatment program. See Cal. Welf. & Inst.Code §§ 17000, 17006. In 1992, the County began using the test to screen beneficiaries to determine participation in the program. The usefulness and motives behind the County’s use of the test are disputed by…