Official English

Melinda Trujillo
ENG 131/ Poulter
Major Paper #2 The United States is a country founded by and for immigrants, and The United States Constitution does not declare any official language. In fact, the Constitution was originally published in several languages including English, German and French. Recently, however, there have been efforts to declare English the nation’s official language. Those in support of official English claim it is a justified measure because they believe it will promote unity, empower immigrants and increase efficiency in government. Not only are these so-called justifications horribly misguided, but also they completely disregard the fact that official English cannot and should not be implemented because it is unconstitutional. The Fourteenth Amendment, freedom of speech, the right to vote, the right to education, and rights to equal opportunities in the workplace would all be devalued if the United States were to adopt English as the single official language of the United States. Legally adopting English as the United States’ official language essentially means the elimination of all oral and written forms of bilingual government services such as public safety services, health services, and social welfare services, as well as courtroom translation and driver’s license examinations. It means an end to bilingual education, bilingual ballots, and bilingual citizenship tests. To the government this means less money spent on these services, but to those with a limited proficiency in understanding and speaking the English language it means exclusion from access to the most basic services and activities that all Americans have constitutional and statutory rights to: public safety services, the legal system, voting, education, and the workplace.
Those who support official English do so mostly in an effort to save money by cutting bilingual services. The inconvenient truth however is that it is unacceptable to violate the Constitution simply to save money. Supporters of official English also preach that it will provide a greater sense of unity and empowerment of immigrants. These claims imply that without all citizens speaking the same language there cannot be a sense of unity in a country, but there is arguably a national sense of pride in the unique rights Americans have, which allow diversity and respect differences, which itself serves as a unifier. These claims also imply that without official English immigrants will choose remain linguistically ignorant and not attempt to learn English, which is absolutely not the case. Most immigrants that do not speak English as their first language understand that learning English is necessary for successful communication in America and already take the initiative to learn it on their own, without English being the official language. Furthermore, those in favor of official English are not unaware of the fact that it would be unconstitutional, they are well aware of the rights official English would impede upon.
Advocates for official English recognize that official English is unconstitutional, and so the following Amendment has been proposed:
The English language shall be the official language of the United States. As the official language, the English language shall be used for all public acts including every order, resolution, vote, or election, and for all records and judicial proceedings of the Government of the United States and the governments of the several States.
While the proposed Amendment would make official English legal, it still fails to address the various other reasons why official English would be unconstitutional. Even if the Amendment were made to the Constitution it would still conflict with the other amendments and rights for the same reasons, and is therefore an unconstitutional Amendment. Looking at the Fourteenth Amendment specifically, official English would violate the Equal Protection clause. This clause states that laws cannot discriminate against particular groups of people based on characteristics- gender, race, or national origin. In the case of Hernandez vs. New York the Supreme Court ruled that language proficiency is in fact classified as one of these characteristics. This same Equal Protection clause also guarantees every person (even illegal immigrants) the opportunity to be heard and tried before any sort of deprivation of life, liberty or property. Taking away bilingual support for those who cannot speak English in the courts prevents non-English speakers from exercising their right to use the judicial system and to have a fair hearing. Similarly to the Fourteenth Amendment, English as the United States’ official language would violate the First Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech. Clearly, any laws that prohibit government interaction with citizens regarding public affairs or political information are a violation of this amendment. So again, the lack of bilingual support, which would be taken away by making English the official language, infringes upon one of our most basic rights as Americans- the right to freedom of speech. Next, English-only legislation impedes upon voting rights because it would mean the elimination of multilingual voting ballots, which many American citizens that speak limited English utilize. Official English specifically violates section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which actually requires bilingual ballots for designated minority language groups. Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for states to impose burdens that might give a state power to control who the voting population consists of on minority groups. Likewise, an official language in the United States would take away the right to education for many. The Constitution doesn’t recognize education as a fundamental right but courts have declared education to be “perhaps the most important function of state and local government”, as well as a “right which must be made available to all on equal terms.” Congress has also passed the Bilingual Education Act, which promises that immigrant children have access to the same education as non-immigrant children. Official English would mean a failure of the state and local governments to provide what has been declared their most important function and would repeal the Bilingual Education Act entirely. Finally, regardless of the fact that official English is meant to apply to government services, making English the official language of the United States would have effects on rights in the workplace. Implementing English-only legislation might encourage increased discrimination based on English proficiency or having an accent. English as the official language may prompt employers to adopt English-only policies within their businesses, which would violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because these behaviors can be classified as discrimination because of the aforementioned characteristic of national origin. In final analysis, official English is unconstitutional and an amendment declaring English the official language of the United States would be counterproductive. Several acts and laws put in place to help avoid discrimination and ensure equality would be undone and devalued completely. Preserving rights to speech, voting, education, work and the right to seek judicial remedies for all citizens and residents in the United States is essential. These rights embody the principles of justice and equality that the United States was founded on and they must be maintained.