The US Justice Department yesterday appealed a November 28 decision by US District Court Judge James Robertson, according to an Associated Press report. Robertson's decision, if it were to stand, would force the US Treasury Department to redesign paper currency to be more usable by the blind.

Robertson ruled that the current design, in which all denominations of bills are indistinguishable except by sight, violates the Rehabilitation Act. The act prohibits discimination in government programs on the basis of disability. Of 180 nations using paper currency, the United States is the only nation that has bills the same size and color in all denominations, according to Robertson.

But Justice Department lawyers have argued in their appeal that such a change would create undue hardship for the vending machine industry, and that the changeover would cost the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing more than $200 million. Moreover, said government attorneys, the blind are not denied meaningful access to currency. Portable readers are available, as are credit cards.

For more on the story, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6618338 
and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16185142/