The U.S. Supreme Court is tackling a question of great interest to America’s auto-loving public: Whose speech is that on your specialty license plate? Specifically, when the government issues specialty tags at the behest of private groups or individuals, can it veto messages deemed offensive to others?
The specialty plate at the center of Monday’s case was proposed by the Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). The tag design features a square Confederate battle flag, along with the organization’s name. Texas produces specialty plates for a fee, but the design must first be approved by the state Department of Motor Vehicles board.
The SCV plate generated considerable controversy.
“Why should we as Texans want to be reminded of a legalized system of involuntary servitude, dehumanization, rape, mass murder?” asked state Sen. Royce West at a public hearing about the plates in 2011.
But Granvel Block, a former commander of the SCV, defended the proposed plate, countering that expecting the group to delete the image of the flag would be “as unreasonable” as expecting the University of Texas to remove its logo from a plate “because Texas A&M graduates didn’t care for it.”
After several votes, the motor vehicles board rejected the proposed plate, finding that “a significant portion of the public associate[s] the Confederate flag with organizations” that demean or express hatred for minorities.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans sued, contending that the state of Texas was violating their free speech rights. A federal appeals court agreed, and the state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears arguments in the case Monday.
The state of Texas maintains that private groups can’t commandeer the machinery of government to convey a message that the government doesn’t want to associate with.
“The plaintiffs have every right to festoon their cars with bumper stickers or other images that display the Confederate battle flag,” says former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell. “But they can’t compel the state of Texas to propagate the Confederate battle flag by displaying it on state-issued license plates.”
This is a tough one. Texas issues “Choose Life” license plates but does not allow “Respect Choice.” The SCV plate generates $18 million dollars for the state of Texas each year. States can regulate most profanity on plates.
Does a license plate represent the individual or the state? Where do we draw the line? I can argue both directions. Wow. Just Wow. Then there is the irony. Texas is denying the SCVs their specialty plate. That doesn’t sound like the Texas we all know and love to hate.
Does everyone who displays a Confederate flag a racist? Certainly not, in my opinion. I know several people who are members of Sons of Confederate Veterans. They are not rednecks nor racists. The ones I know are history buffs. Perhaps there is a way to display their heritage that does not involve the State.
How will the Supremes decide this one?
There is another part to this: a NH guy cut off the part of the license plate that said “live free or die” and was put in jail for destruction of government property. The Supreme court ruled that states can’t force you to convey a government message via requiring you to attach a license plate to your car.
I come down on the side of allowing car owners to put on any license plate (even home-made) as long as the letters are readable by plate scanning software. If the plate isn’t owned by the State then any message one could read into it is clearly the car owner’s. Problem solved with the least disruption and we can fire a few people in every DMV who spend time agonizing over whether each plate design or vanity number selection is offensive. Rude people who put offensive license plates on cars will get keyed and slashed just like those with offensive bumper stickers. No new problems.
What makes my idea possible is the invention of low cost one-off printing. Internet business would pop up allowing people to buy a new license plate every month.
Would the number be state assigned?
What would keep duplications from popping up?
Why would someone hate the slogan live free or die?
Yes, the State would issue the license number. You would receive the plain state-issued plate but have the option to swap it for a design of your own as long as you maintained the same numbers. You could go online to see if a particular set of numbers were available and pay a fee to change your license number to something of your choice. (I use numbers to mean alphanumeric.)
The case is Wooley v. Maynard. I’ll let you research the plaintiff’s moral conviction against the State slogan as I can’t summarize it very well.
Interesting concept. I have handicapped plates. What is to keep people from making them illegally?
You have a choice. Use the standard plain-Jane handicap version provided by the DMV or use the hanging thing on the rear view mirror and use your own vanity plate. Vanity handicap plates are not allowed (as now, I think.)
Good questions. You haven’t come up with a fatal flaw, though. Maybe this idea has some merit and is worth suggesting to state legislators if the Supreme Court doesn’t settle the issue satisfactorily.
I wish Texas would just leave the Union. Good riddance.
A state-issued license plate has one function- to positively identify that vehicle and owner. States have created this problem by trying to make license plates a profit center.
Where does it stop? Plates that glorify rape or molestation? Cannibalism? Under free speech protections, this is a slippery slope. There is no requirement that states have to allow any message on a state issued license plate. They should just go back to a letter-number combination and avoid any hint of government sanction for any of these causes.
There’s always bumper stickers for those who just HAVE to wear their opinions on their sleeve…
How about no political opinions or special interests. Works for me.
I’m more of the al-or-none variety on government controlled speech.