A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is offering an assist for President Donald Trump’s recent affirmation that English should be the official language of the United States, offering guidance that “equips agencies with practical tools to implement this transformative policy while upholding their core missions.”
“Together, we will advance English as our shared language, fostering a more cohesive and engaged nation,” Bondi promised while affirming the President’s March mandate.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will conduct a “full internal inventory of all existing non-English services, and release Department-wide plans to phase out unnecessary multilingual offerings.”
It will also “temporarily suspend operations of LEP.gov,” a website for people with “limited English proficiency” as part of a pause on “public-facing materials related to language access for individuals with LEP, including Letters, Internet posts, YouTube videos, and training materials, pending an internal review.”
Within the next 180 days, the public will be able to weigh in on Bondi’s plans to offer “clear, practical guidelines that help agencies prioritize English while explaining precisely when and how multilingual assistance remains necessary to fulfill their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide Government services.”
Even ahead of that period, “agencies should determine which of their programs, grants, and policies might serve the public at large better if operated exclusively in English.” Artificial intelligence and machine translation, which are used currently by the DOJ, are envisioned as a potential workaround for the services being phased out.
Money saved should be reallocated to English language education and assimilation, the memo adds.
The DOJ rejects the premise that English-only services represent “disparate-impact discrimination.”
“A statute that classifies based on language, but is neutral on its face with respect to national origin, should be considered a mere proxy for national origin discrimination only if the classification is ‘unexplainable on grounds other than’ national origin discrimination,” the memo holds.
In March, Trump’s executive order held that it is “long past time that English is declared as the official language of the United States.” Months later, Bondi is flexing legal muscle to effectuate the President’s preference.
2 comments
David James Demko
July 14, 2025 at 5:19 pm
Two Languages Is One Language Too Many.
Addition of any other language is racist, as it immediately negates equal representation of all other remaining languages. Further, arguing for a second language based on the second highest number of speakers is worse, as it represents tyranny of plurality, rather than democracy’s individual equality.
David James Demko
July 14, 2025 at 5:19 pm
Two Languages Is One Language Too Many.
Addition of any other language is racist, as it immediately negates equal representation of all other remaining languages. Further, arguing for a second language based on the second highest number of speakers is worse, as it represents tyranny of plurality, rather than democracy’s individual equality.