On the heels of a no-good very-bad day, Rep. Mills comes back with a vengeance!
BAM! And let there be driving tests only in English!
The bill hasn’t passed yet, but it probably will. It’s unclear if this is constitutional or not.
Georgia would be the only state with this provision, and it seems close to establishing an official language- which is tricky ground.
UPDATE: Just got off the phone with a Georgia Constitutional Law Professor at one of our premier state universities. It appears that the legislation is not discriminatory per se, as a language is malleable while a skin color or gender is not.
What it will do is invite constitutional challenges that our state may not be able to handle. Since this is the first such law in our nation, surely someone will throw this into court. If one can prove that the law is for “immoral purposes” than it probably won’t withstand judicial scrutiny. Being on questionable legal ground still means it has a chance though.
“It’s a solution looking for a problem,” the Professor said, and I fully agree. There’s no proof that a Spanish speaking driver is any less safe than an English speaking one.
And as for the public safety angle- that’s dubious as well. Many Americans drive on the Autobahn in Germany or a freeway in Italy on European vacations, and it doesn’t appear to cause any problems. That’s why signs are mostly idiographs, as opposed to words-only.
This is an interesting debate. Expect to see this hit the national news pronto when it finally passes.
March 31, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Well, James never met a hispanic that he liked.
But this goes further than that. Do you realize how many illiterate people are driving? The Times recently published an article about literacy rates among adults in Hall County.
So, how do illiterates pass the test? Is there a special test for them? If so, why do illiterate people get a pass, but speakers of other languages do not.
In my opinion this bill sets up a suspect class by punishing only certain individuals. Second this law does not pass the reasonable test. The idea of a solution looking for a problem is actually unconstitutional. It is hard to prove, but with enough money and time it can be.
Is this really the most important thing we can be discussing at a time when the State is 3 billion dollars in the hole. Just saying!
April 3, 2009 at 12:54 pm
[...] I am sure the left wing loonies are out in full force over this one. FIRM has come out publicly against the bill, it is worth reading their stance. Here is another left wing liberal view. [...]