Arizona: Mexican-American Studies Can't Be Banned, Says Judge

A federal judge in Tuscon says that an Arizona law that would ban Mexican-American studies is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. The order by Judge Wallace Tashima brings to an end a case that has been argued over the past seven years.

Tashima, who had ruled in August that the law was unconstitutional, has now issued an injunction specifically prohibiting the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state's Board of Education from taking any actions to enforce the law.

He had not issued an injunction at the time of his original ruling. His ruling followed a two-week non-jury trial.

The law, Tashima writes in the injunction, was not enacted "for a legitimate educational purpose but for an invidious discriminatory racial purpose and a politically partisan purpose."

Tashima's ruling not only applies to the current superintendent and board but to anyone who succeeds them.

The suit – filed in 2010 – challenged an Arizona law that prohibited courses aimed at a particular ethnic group. The teachers challenging the law argued that it was written and enacted in response to the Mexican-American studies program in the Tucson Unified School District.

"Evidence shows that defendants were pursiong these discriminatory ends in order to make political gains," Tashima wrote in August, adding that officials "repeatedly pointed to their efforts against the (Mexican-American Studies) program in their respective 2011 political campaigns.

"The issue was a political boon to the candidates."

The state has not yet commented on whether or not it will appeal the ruling.

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