English-only ruling draws fire
Shawn Gude - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Metro
Rep. Steve King, a Republican who represents western Iowa, has long been a controversial figure in political circles. While earning the praise of some for his lack of so-called "political correctness," others have chastised his actions, labeling them as nativistic and xenophobic.
Last week's ruling on a 2006 lawsuit brought by King continued that swirling controversy, when 5th District Judge Douglas Staskal decided printing Iowa voting forms in languages other than English violated a 2002 state law.
"There's a lot of room for debate," UI Law Professor Todd Pettys said about the ruling. "It's not clearly right, it's not clearly wrong … It's hard to predict how the Supreme Court would resolve it."
The Supreme Court has set a precedent that "all citizens have a fundamental right to vote, and states cannot interfere with that right unless they have a compelling reason," he noted.
Whether that right was infringed upon was up for debate.
"The goal of my office was to make the voting process as uncomplicated as possible for all Iowans, regardless of their first language," Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro said in a statement.
Reactions on the decision were varied, with King and anti-illegal immigration activists lauding the decision and pro-immigrant groups criticizing it.
"This Iowa court ruling upholds our official English law," King said in a statement. "No one is above Iowa law, not even the Iowa state government."
Craig Halverson, director of the anti-illegal immigration Iowa Minutemen Defense Corps, said much of the same, hailing the ruling.
"I think that it will stop a lot of illegal aliens from voting," he said. "Those who come in legally, there will be no problem."
But others, including Latino Law Students Association President Irma Aboytes, see it differently. Aboytes said Latino immigrants are many times forced to work two jobs to provide for the families, leaving little time for to learn English - even if they want to.
"I think that it's again another blow to the [Latino] community," said Aboytes, a second-year law student at the UI. "Once again, you have someone in power saying that we're not going to be welcoming and making life more difficult. I see the other side of it, but from my experiences, that's how I perceive it."
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller hasn't determined whether to challenge the ruling, a spokesman said Wednesday.
E-mail DI reporter Shawn Gude at:
shawn-gude@uiowa.edu
Last week's ruling on a 2006 lawsuit brought by King continued that swirling controversy, when 5th District Judge Douglas Staskal decided printing Iowa voting forms in languages other than English violated a 2002 state law.
"There's a lot of room for debate," UI Law Professor Todd Pettys said about the ruling. "It's not clearly right, it's not clearly wrong … It's hard to predict how the Supreme Court would resolve it."
The Supreme Court has set a precedent that "all citizens have a fundamental right to vote, and states cannot interfere with that right unless they have a compelling reason," he noted.
Whether that right was infringed upon was up for debate.
"The goal of my office was to make the voting process as uncomplicated as possible for all Iowans, regardless of their first language," Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro said in a statement.
Reactions on the decision were varied, with King and anti-illegal immigration activists lauding the decision and pro-immigrant groups criticizing it.
"This Iowa court ruling upholds our official English law," King said in a statement. "No one is above Iowa law, not even the Iowa state government."
Craig Halverson, director of the anti-illegal immigration Iowa Minutemen Defense Corps, said much of the same, hailing the ruling.
"I think that it will stop a lot of illegal aliens from voting," he said. "Those who come in legally, there will be no problem."
But others, including Latino Law Students Association President Irma Aboytes, see it differently. Aboytes said Latino immigrants are many times forced to work two jobs to provide for the families, leaving little time for to learn English - even if they want to.
"I think that it's again another blow to the [Latino] community," said Aboytes, a second-year law student at the UI. "Once again, you have someone in power saying that we're not going to be welcoming and making life more difficult. I see the other side of it, but from my experiences, that's how I perceive it."
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller hasn't determined whether to challenge the ruling, a spokesman said Wednesday.
E-mail DI reporter Shawn Gude at:
shawn-gude@uiowa.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 10
Russ
posted 4/10/08 @ 8:06 AM CST
To Mr. Aboytes, sorry but this is the United States of America and when my ancesters came to this country they had to learn the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. If they were to publish Voting Ballots in Spanish would be discriminating against other immigrants. (Continued…)
Joe
posted 4/10/08 @ 9:46 AM CST
Then you should learn English before you move here. English is our official language. This is the United States of America. Not the United States of Mexico, Japan, China or any other place. (Continued…)
Learn English
posted 4/10/08 @ 10:23 AM CST
If you want to live here you must learn English. If you don't like you can always go back.
Gimme a break
posted 4/10/08 @ 10:46 AM CST
Am I living in 2008? Why are we so threatened by someone speaking another language? Immigrants who come here contribute a great deal to our economy, yet we insist on treating them as if they were either invisible or somehow want to take away 'our' culture. (Continued…)
Joe
posted 4/10/08 @ 10:58 AM CST
Maybe they are talking about how they will best kill you. All the while you sit there and smiling and being "intrigued".
I'm not intrigued, I get annoyed. (Continued…)
Pancho
posted 4/10/08 @ 11:42 AM CST
We have approximately 6 billion people worldwide who would like to move to the US.
We have approximately 1 billion people worldwide who would like to move to the US and become Americans citizens on their conditions. (Continued…)
Smuckers
posted 4/10/08 @ 2:23 PM CST
But don't rednecks and bigots have the same problem reading those voting bills as well? I mean, most of them are illiterate anyway.
Betsy Smith
posted 4/10/08 @ 11:35 PM CST
Un momento! Este pais no es Mexico? No me digas! pienso que "America" era un pais del gente libre... no es verdad? Si los "Americanos" piensan que la lengua de espanol es muchisimo terrible, entonces por que no quieres a aprender la? Si apredes etonces sabes cuando los "mexicanos stupidos" son hablando sobre tu o el pasi excellente que ellos encantan!
Abra su ojos. (Continued…)
Josh
posted 4/11/08 @ 4:49 PM CST
#1: English is not the "official" language of the United States. The Framers recognized that we are a country of immigrants, thus they purposefully elected to not establish an official language. (Continued…)
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