Carmona

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

In this action, plaintiffs assert, on their own behalf and on behalf of a group of Spanish-speaking citizens whom they seek to represent as a class, that they are denied equal protection of the laws, essentially by virtue of the fact that the California Department of Human Resources Development, in conducting the State’s program of unemployment insurance benefits, conducts its affairs, including the printing of its forms, the interviewing of applicants, the hearing of appeals, etc., in the English language. In support of their motion to dismiss, defendants by affidavits (which the Court in its discretion may consider, F.R.Civ.P., Rule 12(b)), assert that Spanish-speaking interpreters are available where needed, although the Court does not deem this fact to be essential to the resolution of this controversy.

In essence, plaintiffs’ contention would require the State of California and, presumably, all other States and the Federal Government to provide forms and to conduct its affairs and proceedings in whatever language is spoken and understood by any person or group affected thereby. The breadth and scope of such a contention is so staggering as…