Contact: Isaac Padilla
Office: 505/986.4263 Mobile: 5050/264.6512
Isaac.Padilla@nmlegis.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Governor Martinez’s Record of Trying to Deny Spanish-Speaking New Mexicans of Their Right to Serve on Juries
Viva Nuevo Mexico!
Issue Raised During Debate of Bill to Improve Court Interpreter Services
(Santa Fe, NM) – When the Senate today debated a bill on the Senate floor that changes the method of paying New Mexico’s court interpreters, Senate Bill 210, the issue was raised of when Governor Susana Martinez fought hard to exclude non-English speaking residents from serving on juries as District
Attorney in Las Cruces. In 2000, then-DA Susana Martinez took vigorous legal action to disqualify people who do not speak English from serving as jurors. The Constitution of New Mexico protects people who speak and read either English or Spanish, however. The New Mexico Supreme Court rejected Martinez’s push to keep Spanish-speaking people from serving on juries in Dona Ana County, or anywhere in the state.
Senator Joseph Cervantes (D-31-Dona Ana) stated that the non-English speaking residents of New Mexico who speak Spanish are guaranteed the right under the State’s Constitution to serve on juries. He also pointed out that the District Attorney in the 3rd Judicial District in 2000 made it a policy to exclude jurors whose only language was Spanish.
Senator Linda Lopez (D-11-Bernalillo) asked Sen. Cervantes “who was the District Attorney who challenged the right of Spanish speakers to sit on juries?” Sen. Cervantes responded that it was the current Governor of New Mexico.
Last year, an identical version (HB 89) of this uncontroversial bill, which had no fiscal impact, was passed unanimously in both chambers. It was subsequently vetoed by the Governor in 2015, inexplicably. A pocket veto, Martinez has never given any explanation why she killed the measure, which was a bill requested by the Courts, and was supported unanimously by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Sen. Michael S. Sanchez said last year during HB 89’s consideration in the Senate that “we hope that Gov. Martinez’s lengthy history of opposing the constitutional rights of Spanish-speaking New Mexicans will not hinder her from signing this bill if it arrives on her desk. New Mexico is unique in that our Constitution explicitly protects the right of citizens who may speak Spanish instead of English to serve on juries. It is an important part of who we are.”
Senate Bill 210 is an innocuous measure without fiscal impact. The ‘Court Language Access Fund’ measure creates a new fund to be administered by the Administrative Office of the Courts for paying court interpreters and related expenses. It removes court translators from being paid through the Jury and Witness Fee Fund.
In addition to ruling against DA Susana Martinez in 2000 in the issue of excluding non-English speakers from jury service, the New Mexico Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision in 2013 in State v. Samora. The Supreme Court wrote that excusing a Spanish-speaking prospective juror violated Article VII, Section 3 of New Mexico’s Constitution. Our constitution provides that the right of any citizen to sit upon a jury may never be impaired on account of inability to speak the English or Spanish languages.
SB 210 passed by a vote of 37-0 today.
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