Opinion ID: 1640383
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Evidentiary Record Before Us

Text: Even if summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs was not required on the basis of the foregoing, neither can we properly affirm the summary judgment in favor of the State officials given the facts before us. At a minimum, a genuine issue of material fact remains as to whether the decision of State officials in 1999 to stop giving the driver's license test in English only and begin giving it in multiple languages contravenes § 36.01. [19] The following facts are beyond dispute: English is the predominant language used in Alabama. The vast majority of Alabama residents 16 years of age and older have a driver's license and drive. Most Alabama residents will, at some point in their lives, take a driver's license examination. A driver's license can provide a significant benefit to an individual; it can facilitate mobility and thereby facilitate work, shopping, education, and leisure activities. As previously noted, courts, where appropriate, should use their common sense, common reason, and common observation as well as [their] common knowledge of the usual acts of men and women under given circumstances. Patton, 793 So.2d at 821. It cannot reasonably be disputed that, if driver's license examinations are given only in English, the above-stated benefits of a driver's license will provide an incentive for individuals with limited or no English proficiency to learn English and will cause some individuals to learn English who would not have done so otherwise. To this extent, it reasonably can be inferred that the English-only policy will tend to enhance English as the common language of this State. On this basis alone, even if there was conflicting evidence from a State witness, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the decision by State officials to stop giving the driver's license test only in English contravened their obligation to take all reasonably necessary steps to insure the preservation and enhancement of English as the common language of Alabama. In addition, however, the record before us contains further evidence  circumstantial, documentary, and testimonial  all of which supports the proposition that administering the test in a language other than English is contrary to both the official language requirement and the common language requirement of § 36.01. Despite assertions otherwise, therefore, the evidence in favor of a summary judgment for the State defendants is by no means undisputed. To the contrary, the record contains ample evidence that supports the plaintiffs' position and that makes a summary judgment in favor of the State defendants inappropriate. [20] Specifically, the record contains the following additional evidence indicating that administering the driver's license test in English only is a reasonably necessary step to ensure the preservation and enhancement of English as Alabama's common language and that giving the test in a language other than English is contrary to § 36.01: 1. The very fact that the Alabama Department of Public Safety (ADPS) found it necessary and appropriate in December 1991 to change its policy of multilingual testing and begin administering the driver's license examination only in English in response to the ratification in 1990 of § 36.01. [21] 2. Deposition testimony by James Hamilton, the former post commander of the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles, that ADPS had instructed him in writing to stop giving the examination in multiple languages because the Legislature had passed ... a law which changed the Constitution and ... all state business had to be conducted in English. According to Hamilton's testimony, this was the only reason given to him by State officials for the change. 3. Deposition testimony of Robert Byers, an ADPS employee, that he had received written notification from the chief examiner in Montgomery of the necessity of giving the driver's license examination in English only because of the change in the Alabama Constitution and, again, that this was the only reason given to him for the change in the policy. 4. In December 1991 ADPS issued a revised examiner's guide, which stated: [Amendment No. 509] states, `English is the official language of the state of Alabama.' To insure the role of English as the official and common language of the state of Alabama is preserved and enhanced, all driver license examinations will be printed and administered in English.  (Emphasis added.) The examiner's guide was again revised and reissued in 1996, and the revised guide also contained the emphasized passage. 5. A 1992 attorney general's opinion advised ADPS that § 36.01 prohibit[ed] [ADPS] from giving driver license tests in any language other than English. The opinion includes the following statement: This amendment requires all officials of the state of Alabama to take all steps necessary to insure that the role of English as the common language of the State of Alabama is preserved and enhanced. Thus, to the extent possible, officials of this state should require the use of English in all state actions and programs.  Op. Att'y Gen. No. 92-411 (Sept. 15, 1992) (emphasis added). 6. In 1998, then Congressman Bob Riley wrote the following in an opinion article in the editorial section of the Montgomery Advertiser:  Does providing government documents and services to immigrants in their native language encourage or expand opportunities for them to learn English?  Of course not. On the contrary, by communication in English, the government of Alabama encourages immigrants to learn the language in order to participate in government and society. (Emphasis added.) 7. In July 1998, then Assistant Attorney General John J. Jack Park wrote to Congressman Riley: [T]he point that requiring [ADPS] to give driver's license examinations in languages other than English gives applicants little incentive to learn English is sound. . . . .  [S]ome, like Judge DeMent, think that we do a better job of Americanizing our immigrants if we do not call on them to learn English. Common sense says otherwise.  (Emphasis added.) At a minimum, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether giving the driver's license examination in languages other than English is consistent with the observation and maintenance of English as this State's official language, and with the constitutional mandate from the people of Alabama to their State officials to take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure the preservation and enhancement of English as this State's common language.