The ELPAC Report January 2001

On August 16, 2000, President Bill Clinton made the United States an officially multilingual country. By signing Executive Order 13,166, Clinton required all federal agencies, state governments and organizations receiving government grants to provide services, benefits or translators in languages other than English whenever even one person demands them.

Executive Order 13,166 says that not providing these services or benefits in languages other than English is considered "national origin discrimination" under the federal civil rights laws. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the same thing in striking down Alabama’s use of English-language drivers license exams. President Clinton relied on the Alabama drivers license case to justify his new ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has already begun reviewing the Alabama drivers license case (see related story in this issue), so the earlier decision’s legal power is limited. Similarly, the Alabama case was the first to say that language choice is the same as national origin; more than a dozen other federal courts in the last twenty years have rejected the same idea.

Executive Order 13,166 requires all federal agencies to prepare plans for providing services and benefits in languages other than English. The plans must be approved by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, which is headed by long-time anti-English activist Bill Lann Lee. Lee has already sent out policy guidelines which indicate that, if even one person asks for language assistance, the agency must provide at least translation services.

The effect of this Executive Order, however, goes much further than just federal agencies. Every state agency, government contractor and organization which receives federal funding must also comply with the new language rules, which will be written into federal contract and grant documents. And because the same kind of rules are used for workplace discrimination lawsuits, private employers will now face lawsuits from workers who want special language assistance on the job.

"Congratulations," said ELPAC Executive Director Steve Workings, "we now live in an officially multilingual country. This is just the opening salvo in a language war that will take years to resolve. Every state which has passed an Official English law is now going to be sued for discrimination. Every federal and state government agency with a language rule will be sued. Even private employers will be sued, not just if they require English in the workplace, but if they don’t provide translators for every worker."

"And it was all done," Workings added, "with a stroke of the President’s pen."

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