The Justice Department (DOJ) has released guidance to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing English as the official language of the U.S. The department stated that it will lead a coordinated effort across several federal agencies to comply with the order.
Justice Department’s guidance
Trump’s executive order was released by the White House on March 1, months before the DOJ guidance release on July 14. The DOJ said it will work to minimize non-essential multilingual services, redirect resources to English education and assimilation and ensure legal compliance.
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“As President Trump has made clear, English is the official language of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will lead the effort to codify the President’s Executive Order and eliminate wasteful virtue-signaling policies across government agencies to promote assimilation over division.”
The president’s executive order rescinds an executive order signed in 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton, which directed agencies to enhance access to federal programs for people with limited English proficiency, among other things.
Straight Arrow News spoke with a law professor on the administration’s authority to carry out this action.
“I think the president has a fair amount of authority in that area, in terms of saying how certain forms are going to be designed, what language government officials are going to transact business in,” Gabriel Chin, professor of law at UC Davis, told Straight Arrow News. “So, I think a great deal of what the president wants to do and what the Justice Department guidance required is going to be permissible.”
Legal pushback
The DOJ stated that this plan allows for linguistic diversity in both private and community spheres. The agency stated that this will help streamline federal processes, reduce administrative burdens, and increase operational efficiency across agencies by eliminating extensive translation services and prioritizing English proficiency over multilingualism.
“President Trump’s Executive Order marks a pivotal step toward unifying our nation through a common language and enhancing efficiency in federal operations,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “The Department of Justice ensures that while we respect linguistic diversity, our federal resources will prioritize English proficiency to empower new Americans and strengthen civic unity.”
Despite the president’s authority on this matter, Chin said there’s a chance we see legal pushback.
“The question is how far it goes. If the president says we’re only going to hire government employees who speak English, that’s probably something that’s within their authority to do,” Chin said. “Another challenge that might come up is whether there’s going to be a prohibition. It’s one thing to say that English is the official language. It’s one thing to say that if somebody works for the Social Security Administration, or for the IRS, or for the post office, they have to be able to speak English. And if somebody comes to the counter at the post office, they have to be able to transact business in English. But another thing that sometimes comes up in this context is, can employees be prohibited from speaking another language?”
Importance of English
Chin said it’s always been important for people to learn English as they come to America.
“The United States transact business in English. That’s really systematic and it’s been that way for a long time,” Chin said. “It’s also clear that any immigrant group that comes here and wants to participate in society in a complete way, young people are going to have to learn English. It’s not possible to take advantage of the education and employment opportunities that exist in this country without speaking English.”
Chin acknowledged that there is a culture war aspect to this, citing some people’s concerns that English is no longer the universal language of the U.S. However, he called those concerns “overblown.”
Chin also acknowledged that it’s important for America to have people who speak foreign languages in certain federal departments, such as the FBI, CIA and others.
“There are certain circumstances, clearly, where a person has a right to be addressed or participate in a proceeding in a language that they can understand,” Chin said. “So federal criminal defendants, for example, in criminal trials, if they don’t understand English, then notwithstanding the executive order and the guidance, I’m confident that the courts are gonna say they have a constitutional right to interpretation so that they can understand the proceedings in their own language.”
