Associated Press

Tuesday, April 28, 1998

Court Dumps Ariz. English-Only Law
By PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX (AP) -- The Arizona Supreme Court today ruled that a voter-approved law requiring state and local governments to conduct business only in English is unconstitutional.

Critics had called the measure racist.

The measure, passed by voters in 1988 as an amendment to the Arizona Constitution, violates the U.S. Constitution's protections of free-speech rights for the public, public employees and elected officials, the court ruled.

``The amendment adversely affects non-English-speaking persons and impinges on their ability to seek and obtain information and services from government,'' the opinion said.

It also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, the opinion added.

The measure required the state and its political subdivisions to ``act in English and no other language'' and prohibited them from making laws or policies that required the use of a language other than English. Also, no government document ``shall be valid, effective or enforceable unless it is in the English language.''

The court said it was expressing no opinion on the constitutionality of less restrictive English-only provisions, and it also emphasized that nothing in its opinion forces any government agency to provide service in a language other than English.

The law has been in limbo since its passage in 1988. A federal judge ruled it unconstitutional and was upheld by a federal appeals court, but the U.S. Supreme Court sent the issue back to state courts on a technicality.

On the law's second trip through state courts, a trial judge ruled the law valid and then was reversed by the Arizona Court of Appeals, leading to today's ruling.

A lawyer challenging the law, Stephen Montoya, had argued before the state Supreme Court in November that the measure was ``profoundly racist'' and unconstitutional.

``It is something that exclusively falls upon the Native Americans and the Asian-Americans and the Hispanic-Americans and does not fall upon the majority of people,'' Montoya said.

The opinion was written by Justice James Moeller. He was joined by three other justices: Thomas A. Zlaket, Charles E. Jones and Stanley G. Feldman. Justice Frederick J. Martone wrote a separate opinion in which he agreed with the results but expressed reservations about unresolved legal issues in the case.

Full text of the court's decision (requires Adobe Acrobat).