Court Urged to Uphold Right of States to Conduct Official Business in English

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2000 -- The U.S. Supreme Court today was urged to uphold the right of individual states to conduct official state business in English if they choose to do so.

In a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the state of Alabama, three organizations – Center for American Unity, ProEnglish and the English First Foundation – called on the Court to reverse a lower court ruling, upheld and expanded by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, holding Alabama’s English Language Amendment in violation of federal law.

Following passage of the amendment, which was approved by 90 percent of Alabama’s voters in the 1990 election, the state stopped offering its drivers license test in languages other than English. On Dec. 31, 1996, five years after the change was made, Martha Sandoval, a non-English-speaking permanent resident from Mexico, files a class action suit against the state claiming that the English-only policy discriminated against her and other members of her class on the basis of their national origin, in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The lower courts found in the plaintiff’s favor. The Supreme Court on September 26 agreed to consider the state’s appeal (Alexander v. Sandoval). The importance of the case was underscored by the Court’s announcement that, under an expedited briefing schedule, the state of Alabama will respond to Sandoval’s brief by December 29 and arguments will be heard by the Supreme Court on January 16.

In their brief supporting Alabama, the three public interest groups argue that the lower courts erred because 1.) a "per se rule equating language and national origin has no basis in law or fact," 2.) such a ruling is both "unworkable" and "unwise," and 3.) The federal government has no "explicit" authority under any existing federal law to countermand the "core rights of the states to choose English for internal operations."