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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Alabama's English-Only Requirement for Driver's License Tests

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CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now across the street from the Capitol, the Supreme Court is hearing a couple of high-profile discrimination cases this week. Today, the nine justices listen to what they will be listening to arguments in a suit challenging Alabama's English-only requirement for driver's license tests. But there is more to today's case than just language.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Charles Bierbauer is outside the high court this morning -- Charles.

CHARLES BIERBAUER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

This too is a question about civil rights with the Alabama English-only language requirement for those driver's license tests being challenged under the Civil Rights Act. But it's also one of those federalism cases that come before the court quite frequently, separating the issues of what the federal government and state governments can do, and specifically in this instance, when an individual can sue a state government.

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BIERBAUER (voice-over): After Martha Sandoval emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, she was told she could not take an Alabama driver's license test in Spanish.

MARTHA SANDOVAL: No. They said to me no, no interpret, speaking English. I, no, me, no speak English.

BIERBAUER: Alabama is the only state with an English-only test. It used to test drivers in 14 languages. But a 1990 amendment to the State Constitution made English Alabama's official language.

BILL PRYOR, ALABAMA ATTORNEY GENERAL: After that, the Attorney General's office found that we could no longer administer driver's license tests under that new law in foreign languages.

BIERBAUER: Sandoval filed a class-action discrimination suit, was allowed to take her test in Spanish, and got her license.

SANDOVAL: The problem is not a personal issue, it is a social issue, and many people really need to have the driver's license here. We don't have the public service that you can count on. BIERBAUER: On an emotional level, the case is about the English- only requirement. The justices know something about that.

JOSEPH SCHMITZ, ATTORNEY, "U.S. ENGLISH": The rules of the United States Supreme Court require that all documents be submitted in English.

BIERBAUER: On a legal level, it's whether an individual may sue a state under federal civil rights laws because the state receives federal funds. Sandoval claimed discrimination based on her national origin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no law that says you can't discriminate based on language. That's just -- that's just not one of the categories that's illegal.

BIERBAUER: The case has potentially broad ramifications beyond language.

PRYOR: This can have an impact on how states run their schools, their prisons, where they place hazardous waste facilities. Anything that is viewed as having a discriminatory affect.

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BIERBAUER: And there is always other people beyond Martha Sandoval -- excuse me -- we'll be watching -- excuse me, Carol. We'll be watching others -- we'll be watching to see the breadth of the court's ruling when we get it in a couple of months, because some legal experts say that the impact of this could even reach into the private enterprises that might require English only in the workplace -- Carol.

LIN: Charles, I am not going to keep you outside the court any longer. You get inside and get some hot tea. Thanks so much.

BIERBAUER: Thank you.

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