Arizona’s High Court Voids State’s English-Only Law

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional a voter-approved law requiring that official state and local business be conducted only in English.

Opponents of the measure branded it racist, while supporters called it common sense and promised to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

State Sen. Pete Rios, a Democrat who was among the plaintiffs in the case decided Tuesday, said the measure’s supporters played on unjustified fears of those who can speak only English.

Robert D. Park, an activist who campaigned for the law’s passage and intervened in the court cases to defend it, said he would appeal.

“What they’re saying here now is that . . . a government employee has a right to choose what language to do business in,” Park said. “That is totally unacceptable.”

Several court challenges left the measure in legal limbo since voters approved it in 1988 as an amendment to the Arizona Constitution. A different challenge was left unresolved last year when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on it.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the law violates free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.

“The amendment adversely affects non-English-speaking persons and impinges on their ability to seek and obtain information and services from government,” the opinion said.

Also, because the measure “chills 1st Amendment rights that government is not otherwise entitled to proscribe,” it also violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause, the opinion said.

However, the state high court said it was expressing no opinion concerning the constitutionality of less restrictive English-only provisions, and it stressed that the opinion does not compel use of any other language.