ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Stepping into a politically charged dispute, the Supreme Court agreed Monday to review whether states can make English their official language and require its use for most government actions.
The justices said they will examine a lower court ruling that said Arizona's official-English constitutional amendment violates state employees' right of free speech.
Official-English laws have been growing in popularity along with proposals to limit immigration and restrict government benefits to immigrants.
Twenty-two other states, including Virginia, and at least 40 cities have enacted some type of official-English law, and Congress is considering legislation similar to the amendment Arizona voters adopted in 1988.
Bob Dole, the prospective Republican presidential nominee, supports the federal legislation, saying, ``We need the glue of language to hold us together.''
But President Clinton has criticized the idea, saying English is ``of course'' the language of the United States but that people should value ``the culture, the traditions of everybody.''
The justices may not reach a decision on the merits of the Arizona official-English amendment. Both sides were asked to address whether supporters of the amendment have legal standing to carry the case to the nation's highest court.
Only if the court finds that Arizonans for Official English has legal standing will its decision set a precedent for other states.
Arizonans for Official English says governments can regulate their employees' speech while they are on duty.
``Making English our official language recognizes the unique role of a common language in society,'' said Daphne Magnuson of U.S. English, an advocacy group supporting the Arizona amendment.
But Stephen Montoya, lawyer for Arizonans Against Constitutional Tampering, which opposes the amendment, said, ``If the First Amendment protects anything, it protects someone's right to choose the words in which they speak.''
``English-only is about, I think, prejudice,'' particularly against Hispanics and Asians, Montoya said. His group noted in court papers that the nation's motto, ``e pluribus unum'' - out of many, one - is in Latin, not English.
The Arizona amendment says English is ``the language of the ballot, the public schools and all government functions and actions.''
The amendment, which applies to all government officials and employees when they are on government business, says the state ``shall act in English and no other language,'' with some exceptions.
Other languages can be used to help students learn English, teach foreign languages, comply with federal laws, protect public health or safety, or protect the rights of criminal defendants or crime victims.
The amendment was challenged in federal court in 1988 by Maria-Kelly F. Yniguez, then a state employee who dealt with residents who filed medical malpractice claims against the state.
She said that while working, she spoke English with English-speaking people and Spanish with Spanish-speaking people.
A federal judge threw out the amendment as a violation of the First Amendment.
Then-Gov. Rose Mofford, who had criticized the amendment, did not appeal. Arizonans for Official English intervened to file an appeal seeking to have it revived.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge's decision.
Also Monday, the court:
* Agreed to use an Oregon case to decide whether people may use the Endangered Species Act to file lawsuits accusing the federal government of doing too much to protect a species.
* Agreed to decide in a Kansas case whether people must pay income taxes on punitive damages they are awarded in personal-injury lawsuits.
* Turned down Louisiana's bid to deny Medicaid-funded abortions for women impregnated as a result of rape or incest. Federal law allows Medicaid-funded abortions in such cases.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB