This paper investigates a legal challenge against the 1996 reform of German orthograpy. It is shown that such protest can be theorized in terms of a 'language ideological debate' (Blommaert, 1999). The article then discusses the historical background to the case, provides an analysis of the challenge and its rejection, and comments on the origins of orthographic norms with special reference to the relationship between individual, speech community and (nation-) state.