A 3rd District judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday morning blocking implementation of Utah's so-called English-only law.
Judge Ronald Nehring was concerned that the state had no plan to enforce the statute set to go into effect Monday.
"Come Monday, there are going to be countless numbers of state employees all operating with their own compass trying to find due north," he said.
Attorneys are scheduled to be back in court Dec. 14 to argue the merits of the official-English ballot initiative voters overwhelmingly approved Nov. 7.
Assistant Attorney General Dan Larsen made that argument in court, saying, "The plaintiffs are asking you today to do a manual recount with the stroke of a pen."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the voter-approved official-English law.
The nine plaintiffs, including Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, say it violates free-speech rights, the right to petition the government and equal protection of the law.
They ultimately want the law nullified or declared merely symbolic.
The initiative makes English the sole language in which state and local governments can conduct business, with exceptions for health and safety needs, court proceedings when necessary to ensure justice, economic development and tourism events such as the Olympics.
"It erects a permanent barrier between non-English speakers and every branch and agency of their government on an almost limitless variety of subjects," Clark said.
The statute has state and local leaders questioning what they can or can't do in other languages. Some fear they will no longer be allowed to communicate in other languages with constituents who aren't well versed in English.
"It puts our city in a quandry," said Archie Archuleta, Salt Lake City administrator for minority affairs.
The complaint names Gov. Mike Leavitt and Attorney General Jan Graham as defendants. Both opposed the ballot measure, an irony Larsen noted in court.
Nehring said the court wants to explore whether the law is constitutional. "It's a measure of judicial humility to sometimes use the stroke of a pen to keep faith with the Constitution," he said.
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