|
ProEnglish members
in Alabama ask court to enforce the state's official English law. Seek to reinstate policy requiring driver's license exams in English In May 2005, five members of ProEnglish asked a state court to order state officials to reinstate Alabama's policy of giving driver's license exams exclusively in the state's official language, English. (To see a copy of the complaint, click here.) The Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), a constitutional public interest law firm, is representing plaintiffs Roger W. Cole, J.P. Hendrick, Thomas Schenzel, Stuart Shipe and Charles Van Brock in the suit. In 1990 the people of Alabama voted by an overwhelming
9 to 1 margin to amend their state constitution and make English their
official language. To comply with the law and the express desire of Alabama's
citizens, the state stopped giving driver's license exams in other languages.
After it was challenged in federal court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that Alabama was within its constitutional rights to have such a policy.
(For more on this ruling, click
here.) But despite winning vindication for its English
exam policy, Alabama continues to let driver's license applicants take
their exams in other languages. Currently, Alabama driver's license applicants
can take their exams in one of 13 languages including Arabic, Chinese,
Farsi, Russian, Vietnamese, and Thai, even though - according to the U.S.
Census - there is not a single speaker of any of several of these languages,
in many Alabama counties. The ProEnglish members and SLF are seeking to
enforce Amendment 509 of the Alabama Constitution, which gives standing
to citizens to enforce its English language driver's license requirement
in court. In addition to flaunting the Alabama Constitution
and the will of the people, Gov. Riley's decision to continue providing
driver's license tests in multiple languages is a serious threat to public
safety. Drivers who cannot understand English cannot read traffic signs,
or communicate with police in the event of an accident or highway emergency.
ProEnglish believes there is a far better way to comply with the law and
protect public safety: teach non-English speaking drivers to speak English. |
||
 |
|||
|
|
       
|