Guys, Trump to sign order making English the official U. S. language. Opinions?

[Anonymous]

Is this a proud moment for Americans 🇺🇸

[Pet68]

It's just yet another of Trump's meaningless gestures designed to draw attention away from the fact that he's incompetent, corrupt, and hasn't accomplished anything worth celebrating after one month in office. He said he'd, for example, end the war in Ukraine within a day of being sworn in. Well, he hasn't, and in the meantime he insulted the intelligence of every thoughtful person by saying that Ukraine was the aggressor. He's Putin's puppet, he takes his orders from the Kremlin, and if people can't see that then they're clearly blind, stupid or both.

[ProbablyClueless]

I mean... It's kind of weird that English wasn't our official language before, honestly. We have all of our forms and government stuff in English as the default with alternative translations available.

English was already our unofficial language.

[Stevepro68]

Continues to be yet another distraction trying to get people talking and arguing about another meaningless idiot political talking point. Pivot away from the fact that we are going to raise the deficit, and screw the middle class so billionaires can get another level added onto their super yacht.

[Twalli]

It's terrible. We are a nation of immigrants. We should celebrate our heritage of being diverse and composed of people of all nations and walks of life. English is the dominant language in the world. We don't need to make it the national language of a country that used to celebrate itself as a melting pot.

[Asker]

🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐

[SmokinAces2000]

Oh I thought America was such a melting pot. There is no need to do this and I don’t understand how people who claim to love this country and love the founding fathers could support this considering that the founding fathers made it a point not to establish English as an official language to drive individual liberty and expression.

[Asker]

It is a melting pot, and what better way for everyone to share the same language to understand each other better than by speaking one language, which is spoken by the majority, English?

[SmokinAces2000]

A melting pot is a society where people look, talk, and act different. Like many of Trumps other actions this was unnecessary and a clear attempt to make it look like he’s actually doing something

[Anonymous]

He should make American the official U. S language:

https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/is-illinois-official-language-american/

http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/langleg.htm

[Spencer10]

Another culture war distraction from the fact he is doing nothing about the real reason he got elected... the cost of living.

[OneViewpoint]

More political theater to entertain the White Supremacists in tRump’s MAGA base.

[Asker]

Troll

[OneViewpoint]

Insecure racist.

[Asker]

Speaking English is racist?😂

[Dargil]

I entirely support English as the language of our government and commerce. There should be no bilingual government schools. Full Stop. Private are private. And second language in public schools is fine.

[Syntosi]

Performative nonsense as usual. Big show and dance for not doing a whole lot.

[lightbulb27]

he should have made Java our official language.

for (i=1 to 10, ...)

{Do it () }

yea, it should be... duh.

[Kaneki05]

Good, now... They will slowly bow to out King and we shall bring back our grand nation

[Asker]

The UK doesn’t even have English for their official language. Sad

[KostasKouvalis]

About time. I'm so confused as to why we don't have an official language.

[DryGermanGuy]

Isn’t English the language of the former colonial power?

[KostasKouvalis]

Yeah, sooooooooo?

[Asker]

Soooo? all English speaking countries should have it as their official language.

[DryGermanGuy]

Patriotic Murricans should speak only in Murrican! 😤

[DrPepper12]

It's all part of "the show" he performs for MAGA while the cult brays...

[blackeagle007]

Trump is trying more and more to get absolute power. He really does have psychological problems. And all the trumpers are condemning people that don’t support this racist. But we get condemned for supporting someone else

[Anonymous]

fun fact: the official language of the ukraine is ukranian. why do the Trump-haters think it's okay for their US money thieving idol, zelenskyy to lead a country that has a national language, but it's not okay for the US?

[Asker]

Confused by this answer

[Opinion Owner]

uh, all the Trump hating idiots are sucking the leader of Ukraine's cock right now. But I just pointed out how the Ukraine has their own national language. Not really cool to attack Trump for wanting to give the US something that the Ukraine already has. You can't praise one and crap on the other for the SAME thing.

[Asker]

What does Ukraine have to do with speaking English?

[Surely]

Okay. Now what will change? Can’t imagine that we will see anything different.
Though I wish that people driving on our highways would be able to speak English!

[goaded]

He doesn't have the authority. As usual. Same with birthright citizenship.

[Pterodon]

It’s about fucking time. We don’t want problems like Canada

[RedInnocent69]

Um, wasn’t it already? How does that reduce the price of eggs? Which are double the price than in Canada

[shortster]

Makes sense, most countries have an official language; and English has been our unofficial language forever.

[GAGsucksballs89170]

So as a Jew, am I not allowed to speak Hebrew?

[abc3643]

That's unconstitutional.

[Asker]

Troll

[abc3643]

I am not trolling at all.
This is going to be a long reply because this is a big teachable moment...

I am saying it is unconstitutional because it is.

And who would consider that unconstitutional?
Most justices but, in particular, a CONSERVATIVE justice.

Why?
Because conservative justices advocate something call "strict constructionism". Late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was a famous example of such a strict constructionist justice. (Clarence Thomas is as well.) Basically, strict constructionists are saying "If a power is not enumerated (not explicitly written) in the Constitution, then that power doesn't exist."

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[abc3643]

Google Gemini explains strict constructionism:
====
In legal terms, "strict constructionism" refers to a particular philosophy of judicial interpretation. Here's a breakdown of what that means:

* Core Principle:

- Strict constructionists believe that laws, particularly the U. S. Constitution, should be interpreted literally. This means adhering to the precise language of the text.
- They aim to avoid drawing inferences or expanding the meaning of the words beyond their explicit definitions.

* Focus on the Text:

- This approach emphasizes the importance of the text itself, minimizing or excluding considerations of legislative history, intent, or evolving social values.

* Application:

- Strict construction is often applied in interpreting statutes and constitutional provisions.
- In the context of the U. S. Constitution, it often involves limiting the powers of the federal government to those specifically enumerated in the document.

* Contrast with Other Interpretations:

- It stands in contrast to more flexible approaches, such as "living constitutionalism," which allows for interpretations that adapt to changing circumstances.

* Important Considerations:

- It is important to note that even those that are considered strict constructionists, have to use some form of interpretation. Because language itself can be ambiguous.
- Also the term is often used within political discourse, and can have a wider meaning than the specific legal definition.

In essence, strict constructionism prioritizes the literal meaning of legal texts, aiming to constrain judicial discretion and maintain fidelity to the written word.

=====
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[abc3643]

So, the President doesn't have an enumerated power that he can dictate what the "official language" is. The power isn't in the Constitution at all. The only way it might be interpreted that the US can establish an official language is perhaps under two of Congresses enumerated powers in the Constitution at Article II, Section 8:
www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei#section8
===

Section 8
The Congress shall have power to...
...
(Clause 3, the Commerce Clause)
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

(Clause 18, Necessary and Proper Clause)
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
===
Basically, the idea is that Congress, trying to facilitate interstate commerce, establishes a national language for the United States. The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power of regulating interstate commerce and the Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress the power to make the laws to do that regulation.

Bottom line:
Trump doesn't constitutionally have the power to establish the official language for the US but Congress likely does. Given that both houses of Congress have GOP majorities and Trump is a GOP President, the time is ripe right now to attempt to make English the Official Language of the US.

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[abc3643]

Once a bill is written (it won't even get to the stage of being a law yet), what would THEN happen is the ACLU and other groups would be plaintiff's filing lawsuits in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia that establishing an official language is unconstitutional.
Their mindset is this: Establishing an official language...:

1) ... is not a power that the Federal Government has that is enumerated in the Constitution and

2) ... is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because establishing an official language is a form of discrimination against non-English speakers.
That might hold up too even in the Supreme Court because:
a) English as the official language _is_ a clear discrimination against non-English speakers,
b) The Federal Government establishing an official language would be subject to strict scrutiny because, to legally discriminate, governments need to show good cause why they will discriminate.
Basically, the Plaintiff's will assert that there is no major reason for the Federal Government to establish an official language (and thus discriminate). So, the Federal Government would have to defend itself and state why it must make an official language (and thus discriminate) and why it could not accomplish that same objective via other means which don't discriminate. In other words, the Federal Government is put on the defensive and give a legitimate reason WHY it felt compelled to establish an official language (and thus discriminate) and show that there was no other way to accomplish what the government needed to do.

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[abc3643]

So, really, the only way to successfully make English the Official Language of the United States is with a Constitutional Amendment.

That's would be problematic for other reasons though...
First, you need 38 states to approve such an amendment.
Second, and this is more practical of an issue, how are you going to define the English?
Is this English?
"The Cayley-Hamilton Theorem states that every square matrix satisfies its characteristic equation which determines its eigenvalues."
To me, that's perfect English and I know exactly what the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem is and what eigenvalues are. For most people, they have no idea what I just wrote despite that it is written in English.
OK, so suppose I write the C-H Theorem in mathematics:
Let A be an n × n square matrix over a field F.
Let p (λ) = det (A - λI) be the characteristic polynomial of A, where I is the n × n identity matrix and λ is a scalar variable.
Then p (A) = 0, where 0 is the n × n zero matrix.

λ is the Greek letter lambda which is not a letter in the English language. Is that description of the C-H Theorem still in English?

What about fraternities and sororities which use Greek letters? ΤΒΠ (tau beta pi) is the national honor society for engineers. Are we going to have to write that as Tau Beta Pi from now on because ΤΒΠ will be outlawed as "not English"?

Suppose the Official Language as being English applies only to documents written by the Federal Government... How is the National Institute of Science and Technology going to be able to do science if it can't use non-English letters?

You see where I am going? Once you start creating official things and de facto outlaw the nonofficial things, you create problems by limiting freedom.

You don't want to oppress freedom, do you?

[abc3643]

Oh, and English will evolve. At what point does the English of today no longer become English?

For instance, take a look at this:
=====
Wē þā Folc of þǣm Āmerican Rīce, on Ætgen þe weorþað swā glēawra Gēomræden, gesettnysse āstæðe, ætywærdnesse gemet, forþǣm for folcnes wiðerwīsan, fremen gehāfðe scēw, and for hyra foregengum wyrþrice rǣde gēgemot, þurh eallra hæl, gēnūgan ʒesæde geðeode, and healdan þā blēdscipe of lǣoban tō ūre sylfum and ūre æþelingum, dō georne and gesettnysse þis Rǣd for þā Āmerican Rīce.

=====

Do you know what that is?

It's the Preamble to the US Constitution (*).
It's written in English!
It's written in what modern people call "Old English".
To you and me who aren't linguistics professionals, that's about as legible as Mandarin.

Having laws written in Old English would really suck for us today.
But, suppose the US existed when Old English was the current English of the time and English was "the Official Language of the United States"?
(This would be about 1000 years ago.)
Then would we have been stuck with that version of English for all the future?
If so, that would suck because the language evolves.
Any teen's current slang not understandable by their parents is a perfect example of this.

Basically, the language needs to be free to evolve and we need to be able to translate past versions of the language into its current form.

Here's an example...

Again, here's the Preamble:
constitution.congress.gov/constitution/preamble/

(*)
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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[abc3643]

Does anything look odd here?
Look at the word "defence".
The preamble was written in 1787 when Americans were still using the King's English.
American English has evolved since then including changing how we spell many words compared to the way Commonwealth members who use the King's English spell.
You see it all the time:
color / colour
liter / litre
center / centre
defense / defence

So, right there in the Preamble, the text is NOT in American English. It is still legible, but it's not American English.

So, if we make English the Official Language of the United States, which English should we use? And should the use of the other English be outlawed?

[mattthefatbat]

Are we bringing down the price of grocieries yet?

[masterSir]

about time. that'd be great.

[FunkyMonkee]

You mean, it's not?

[msc545]

Just more of his racism.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Another Trump distraction.

[seeyounexttuesday]

Good. 'bout time.

[exitseven]

It;s about time.