Alaska's high court rules on English-only law

[Jordan Lachler]

Alaska's high court rules on English-only law
The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska's highest court struck down a central provision
of a state law requiring only English to be used for all government
business.

However, the Supreme Court in an 89-page decision Friday let much of the law
stand.

Attorney Doug Pope said the ruling means that his clients in Togiak can
continue to conduct city council meetings largely in Yup'ik, the only
language some of them speak. And while public records must be in English,
versions in other languages also can be provided and maintained in the same
government files.

The English-only law was passed by voters through an initiative in 1998, but
has never been in effect. Togiak, the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Civil
Liberties Union and the Native American Rights Fund quickly challenged the
new law, and won an injunction that had kept it in limbo until Friday's 4-1
decision.

The dissenter, Chief Justice Alex Bryner, said the entire law should have
been thrown out as violating the U.S. and Alaska constitutions.

Instead, the majority focused on two sentences in a provision defining the
scope of the law, the first of which reads: "The English language is the
language to be used by all public agencies in all government functions and
actions."

The court found that to be unconstitutional because it violates federal and
state rights of free speech.

But a second sentence, "The English language shall be used in the
preparation of all official public documents and records ..." could be kept
as long as it also allows documents to be offered in other languages, the
court said.

The high court decided not to consider other sections of the law now, but
noted that the rest of the statute would have to be enforced narrowly or
other provisions also might be found unconstitutional.

Both sides claimed a measure of victory in the ruling.

Attorney Ken Jacobus, one of the original sponsors of the initiative, said,
"The whole idea was to get people to speak English because it benefits them,
not to prevent them from speaking their own language."

Pope said the ruling is a clear victory for Togiak and the other plaintiffs.

"What (the court has) said ... is that the person speaking and listening
(during government business) have a right to speak in a language other than
English," he said. "That's a great victory for Natives and non-English
speakers."

The case was taken to the Supreme Court by Alaskans for a Common Language,
the group that pushed the original petition.

———

Information from: Anchorage Daily News,

http://www.adn.com
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