<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Very nice essay, Hal. Thanks for the link.<div><br></div><div>What's interesting to me is that English-only has become not just a state issue, but an issue at the municipal level, as well as at the level of individual agencies (the Dallas PD) schools (Wichita) and workplace's (the Salvation Army Thrift Shop in Framingham; Geno's Steaks in Philly). Only this week a number of my students objected vehemently to the singing of the national anthem in Spanish. When I showed them Stephen Colbert's satirical take on this and asked them, "How many people can understand the sacred scriptures of their in the languages they were originally written in?" they replied that Bible translation was ok, since the bible was universal. This is what we're up against.<div><br></div><div>Dennis<br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>____________________</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Dennis Baron</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Professor of English and Linguistics</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Department of English<span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">University of Illinois<span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">608 S. Wright St.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Urbana, IL 61801 </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">office: 217-244-0568</font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">fax: 217-333-4321</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></div></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000EE" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(72, 72, 72); font-size: 11px; "><a target="_new" href="http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron" title="My faculty home page" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 128); text-decoration: none; ">http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron</a></span></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3">read the Web of Language:</font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000080" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(20, 79, 174); font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(72, 72, 72); font-size: 11px; "><a target="_new" href="http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage" title="The Web of Language blog" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 128); text-decoration: none; ">http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a></span></span></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000EE" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></font></div></span></div><div><div><br></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br><div><div>On Apr 23, 2010, at 9:30 AM, Harold Schiffman wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>All,</div> <div> </div> <div>Back in 2005 I wrote a paper on a case of English-only drivers' license testing that eventually went to</div> <div>the Supreme Court, but then didn't result in kind of massive effect I thought it might have on English-only</div> <div>legislation in this country. Now, in upcoming elections, the issue has surfaced again, and an Alabama</div> <div>journalist has discovered my article (posted on my website--it never got published) and cited it in his</div> <div>article on the subject:</div> <div> </div> <div> <div class="post-headline"> <h1>Tim James Might Want to Learn the History of “English Only” Driver’s License Examinations in Alabama </h1></div> <div class="post-byline">By TWAY Kris</div> <div class="post-bodycopy clearfix"> <div class="topsy_widget_data topsy_theme_blue" id="topsy_id1-2-1-4-2-1-0-0-1-1" style="BACKGROUND: url(data:,%7B%20%22url%22%3A%20%22http%253A%252F%252Fwww.theworldaroundyou.com%252F2010%252F04%252F23%252Ftim-james-might-want-to-learn-the-history-of-english-only-drivers-license-examinations-in-alabama%252F%22%2C%20%22shorturl%22%3A%20%22http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FaBh9bA%22%2C%20%22style%22%3A%20%22big%22%2C%20%22title%22%3A%20%22Tim%20James%20Might%20Want%20to%20Learn%20the%20History%20of%20%5C%22English%20Only%5C%22%20Driver%27s%20License%20Examinations%20in%20Alabama%22%20%7D); FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75em"> <div class="topsy-big"><a class="topsy-big-total snap_noshots" href="http://topsy.com/tb/www.theworldaroundyou.com/2010/04/23/tim-james-might-want-to-learn-the-history-of-english-only-drivers-license-examinations-in-alabama/"><span class="topsy-big-count"><span class="topsy-big-num">2</span><span class="topsy-big-unit">tweets</span></span></a><a class="topsy-big-retweet snap_noshots" href="http://button.topsy.com/retweet?nick=TWAY_Kris&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theworldaroundyou.com%2F2010%2F04%2F23%2Ftim-james-might-want-to-learn-the-history-of-english-only-drivers-license-examinations-in-alabama%2F&shorturl=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FaBh9bA&title=Tim%20James%20Might%20Want%20to%20Learn%20the%20History%20of%20%22English%20Only%22%20Driver's%20License%20Examinations%20in%20Alabama" target="_blank">retweet</a></div> </div><p>It may be news to some, but we have tried to enforce English-only driver’s license examinations before, and as Alabama is prone to do, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees as a result. Let’s take a walk down memory lane (courtesy of <a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/public/alabama.html"><strong><font color="#666666">Dr. Harold Schiffman at the University of Pennsylvania</font></strong></a>)…</p><p>From the 1970’s to 1991, Alabama offered the driver’s license exam in 12 languages. In 1990, the people of Alabama passed an “English only” constitutional amendment (Amendment 509), which, <a href="http://www.ago.state.al.us/oldopinions/9200411.pdf"><strong><font color="#666666">after an advisory opinion issued by then Attorney General Jimmy Evans</font></strong></a>, caused the exam to only be offered in one language. In 1996, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) took up the case of Martha Sandoval a Mexican-born Alabama citizen who had limited English proficiency and was unable to pass the exam and thus had been arrested several times for operating a vehicle without a license (a natural result of the policy James is advocating). The SPLC filed a federal class-action lawsuit under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which claimed that</p> <blockquote><p>“the regulation had impermissible disparate impact on the basis of national origin in violation of Title VI, and was not supported by substantial legitimate justification.”</p></blockquote><p>The State lost in federal court in 1998 (<a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19980712&id=_QMkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9NcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4771,1137851"><strong><font color="#666666">and two months later returned to offering the test in multiple languages</font></strong></a>). The ruling was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. However,<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-1908.ZS.html"><strong><font color="#666666"> the U.S. Supreme Court in a controversial 5-4 decision, overturned that ruling in 2001</font></strong></a>. So that left me with the question, why didn’t we go back to offering the exam in English only? Well, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-1908.ZS.html"><strong><font color="#666666">Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275</font></strong></a>) held only that a private citizen could not sue to enforce Title VI, saying that role belonged exclusively to a government entity. The decision explicitly states that the only remedy for violation of Title VI is for a federal agency to terminate a state’s funding.</p><p>So yes, the decision belongs to the governor. However, Governor Riley (who has been a consistent supporter of English as the official state language) <a href="http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20070620/NEWS/70620002?Title=Groups-to-debate-multiple-language-driver-s-license-test"><strong><font color="#666666">has maintained that based on the US Supreme Court ruling in <em>Sandoval</em>, returning to an English-only driver’s license examination would put our federal transportation dollars in jeopardy</font></strong></a>. That didn’t satisfy some who had fought hard for the English-only constitutional amendment and they sued in 2005 saying the state was violating this amendment by offering the written exam in multiple languages. The Alabama Supreme Court (<a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1913840/posts"><strong><font color="#666666">also in a 5-4 decision</font></strong></a>) ruled against the English-only advocates and said the state was not in violation of the amendment. <a href="http://www.proenglish.org/legal/legalindex.html"><strong><font color="#666666">Another lawsuit was filed in 2008 and is still pending</font></strong></a>.</p><p>So, apparently, Tim James disagrees with our current governor, and is willing to put billions of dollars at risk to “save” some undetermined amount because he’s a smart businessman? Does that make sense to you?</p><p><a href="http://www.theworldaroundyou.com/2010/04/23/tim-james-might-want-to-learn-the-history-of-english-only-drivers-license-examinations-in-alabama/">http://www.theworldaroundyou.com/2010/04/23/tim-james-might-want-to-learn-the-history-of-english-only-drivers-license-examinations-in-alabama/</a></p><p>____________________________</p><p>My own article is at: <a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/public/alabama.html">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/public/alabama.html</a></p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p>It's a small world...</p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p>HS</p><p><br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br>Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br>Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br> Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br> <br>-------------------------------------------------<br></p></div></div> _______________________________________________<br>This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list<br><a href="mailto:lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu">lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu</a><br>To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>