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U.S. high court to decide English-only license test

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether Alabama should be allowed to give its driver's license exam only in English or must offer it in foreign languages to accommodate immigrants.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal by the state after lower courts forced Alabama to abandon its policy of giving the written test only in English.

Martha Sandoval, a Mexican immigrant living in Mobile, sued Alabama's Department of Public Safety in 1996 on behalf of herself and others. Her lawsuit claimed the English-only policy violated a 1964 federal civil rights law.

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The law bars discrimination based, among other things, upon national origin by any program that receives federal funds.

A federal judge ruled in 1998 that the policy discriminated against the state's estimated 13,000 non-English speaking residents. A U.S. appeals court upheld the decision. Both rulings rejected the state's argument that the 1964 law does not allow such lawsuits by private citizens.

Alabama offered its test in as many as 14 foreign languages until 1991. The Department of Public Safety changed its policy about a year after Alabama voters added an English-only amendment to the state constitution.

After the judge's ruling in 1998, the state once again began offering the test in a number of foreign languages.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case, most likely in January, with a decision due by the end of June.

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