House Delays Action on Court Language Services Measure
Action by the House of Delegates on a resolution calling for courts to implement services for people for whom English is not their primary language was put off today so final changes could be made in the language of the proposal.
Resolution 122 (PDF) calls for the House to adopt the proposed ABA Standards for Language Access in Courts. The resolution also would urge courts and other tribunals to promptly implement the standards and urges legislative and executive branches to provide adequate funding for the services.
Language access services are a necessary tool for courts, said Vanessa Ruiz, a judge in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, who is a member of the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, the lead sponsor of the resolution. Without such services, those who lack skills in English cannot be understood and cannot understand what goes on in court, she said.
“For that person,” she said, “the door to the courthouse is closed.”
The request to postpone indefinitely came from the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators. Eric T. Washington, also a judge in the D.C. Court of Appeals, who is current president of the Conference of Chief Justices, said language services are a priority for his group as well as SCLAID and its co-sponsors, but said taking a little more time to resolve final drafting issues will make it easier for the measure to pass.
Ruiz also said any remaining drafting issues should be resolved. She said one key concern of the Conference of Chief Justices was how the proposed standards address the issue of how language services would be paid for.
In ABA House parlance, a motion to postpone indefinitely, does not always mean exactly what it says. Ruiz and Washington both said they expect the measure to come back before the House in February at the ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans.
