Date:  Thu, 7 Sep 1995 22:17:02 -0400

From:  "Bethany Dumas, UTK" <DUMASB[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTKVX.UTK.EDU>

Subject: Re: English-Only States



I have not checked on the status of the TN law recently, but I recall

that in 1985 the legislature passed an "English-only" law. One of my

law school classmates took a look at it and said that it was clearly

unconstitutional (at the state level). The reason? TN had a law that

made it illegal for a law to have a title longer than it was, and the

English-only law had such a title. Someone else did a little research

and announced that in such a case prior law obtianed and there was some

evidence that Cherokee had once been an "official" of the area occupied

by TN, so it followed that from 1985 to the present (unless the law

has changed again) the official language of TN is Cherokee.



(Yes, I'm joking, but just barely.)



Bethany Dumas

English/UTK