Thursday, June 27, 2002
Anti-Pledge Judge Anti-English Too
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the Pledge of Allegiance was the product of a 2-1 vote, rather than the full court. The two judges who voted to ban the pledge were Circuit Judge Alfred Goodwin and Judge Stephen Reinhardt.
Reinhardt is notorious in official English circles. He has shown himself to be a consistent pioneer at the frontiers of judicial activism.
Attorney Barnaby Zall reminded me that Reinhardt wrote the opinion striking down Arizona's official English law (Yniguez). Reinhardt also wrote at least two other bad English rulings: the first upholding a "suspect class" consisting of recently registered foreign born voters who requested bilingual ballots (Olagues v. Russaniello) and the only major case to ever strike down an English-on-the-job rule (Gutierrez v. Municipal Court).
Reinhardt also dissented from denial of rehearing en banc in the Spun Steak case, saying that the EEOC's rule against English on the job policies were O.K., despite the lack of any protection for language choice in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Had the Pledge of Allegiance been offered in Spanish, Reinhardt might have approved of it.
|posted by Jim on 6:03 PM|
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