For Karen Sutton, her twin sister Kimberly Hinton, and Ella Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court was a hostile environment from 1999 to 2002 because of a series of employment decisions during those years that left the three women and countless others outside the protections of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act.

Nearly a decade later, Congress appears on the verge of undoing much of the high court’s handiwork.