U.S. Supreme Court Rejects ACLU Challenge To Alabama Official English Law

"We are delighted the Supreme Court has rejected the ACLU's attempt to kill official English in Alabama," said Joseph E. Schmitz, a U.S.ENGLISH board member. "Although the majority opinion is limited to a narrow issue of congressional intent, this is a tremendous symbolic victory for official English."

In its April 24 opinion in Alexander v. Sandoval, the Supreme Court acknowledged that "The State of Alabama amended its Constitution in 1990 to declare English 'the official language of the state of Alabama'." According to Schmitz, "Alabama's official English law is all about empowering immigrants to participate in the great American melting pot. U.S. English will continue to support and defend this type of common sense official English law."

In this landmark civil rights case, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 16, 2001, U.S.ENGLISH had filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the will of the people of Alabama, who voted overwhelmingly to make English their official language. Roughly 90 percent of the people of Alabama voted in favor of the 1990 constitutional amendment. In an attempt to be faithful to the voter's message, state transportation officials decided to offer driver's license exams solely in English, a practice similar to many licensing requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Supreme Court yesterday answered the narrow question of "whether private individuals may sue to enforce disparate-impact regulations promulgated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," which imposes nondiscrimination obligations on entities who receive federal funding. "Disparate-impact" is a theory of so-called unintentional discrimination. According to the court's majority opinion, "Neither as originally enacted nor as later amended does Title VI display an intent to create a freestanding private right of action to enforce [disparate-impact] regulations."

In 1997, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU, two liberal advocacy groups, undertook to challenge Alabama's official English law on the grounds that the English language skills of Martha Sandoval, an immigrant living in Alabama, were insufficient to take the state driver's test in English. The groups helped Sandoval file a federal civil rights suit, alleging that Alabama has an obligation to provide service to Sandoval in the language she speaks.

This is not the first time official English issue has been before the Supreme Court. In Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, the Court decided that case on technical grounds, leaving the basic issues untouched. Twenty-six states have declared English their official language. Just last month, a trial court in Salt Lake City rejected the ACLU's constitutional challenge to the most recent official English law, approved by Utah voters in November 2000. The ACLU has filed a notice of appeal.