Cite as: 520 U. S. 43 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
than English in the course of her performing government business contributes to the efficient operation . . . and . . . administration of the State." Id., ¶ 15. The stipulation referred to the Attorney General's January 24, 1989, opinion, id., ¶ 46, and further recounted that since the passage of Article XXVIII, "none of [Yniguez's] supervisors ha[d] ever told her to change or cease her prior use of Spanish in the performance of her duties," id., ¶ 48.8
The District Court heard testimony on two days in February and April 1989, and disposed of the case in an opinion and judgment filed February 6, 1990. Yniguez v. Mofford, 730 F. Supp. 309. Prior to that final decision, the court had dismissed the State of Arizona as a defendant, accepting the State's plea of Eleventh Amendment immunity. See id., at 311. Yniguez's second amended complaint, filed February 23, 1989, accordingly named as defendants only the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Department of Administration. See App. 55.9
The District Court determined first that, among the named defendants, only the Governor, in her official capacity, was a proper party. The Attorney General, the District Court found, had no authority under Arizona law to enforce provisions like Article XXVIII against state employees. 730 F. Supp., at 311-312. The Director and the Governor,
8 Supplementing their pleas to dismiss for want of a case or controversy, the defendants urged that Attorney General Opinion No. I89-009 "puts to rest any claim that [Yniguez] will be penalized by the State for using Spanish in her work." Record, Doc. No. 51, p. 4, n. 1.
9 The second amended complaint added another plaintiff, Arizona State Senator Jaime Gutierrez. Senator Gutierrez alleged that Article XXVIII interfered with his rights to communicate freely with persons, including residents of his Senate district, who spoke languages other than English. App. 58-59. The District Court dismissed Gutierrez's claim on the ground that the defendants, all executive branch officials, lacked authority to take enforcement action against elected legislative branch officials. Yniguez v. Mofford, 730 F. Supp. 309, 311 (Ariz. 1990). Gutierrez is no longer a participant in these proceedings.
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