Washington The United States Supreme Court began grappling on Monday with a thorny free speech issue: whether a state government can use its authority over specialty license plates to endorse certain messages while censoring others. <\/p>\n
The issue arises in a lawsuit filed by the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who complain that Texas refused to produce and circulate a proposed Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate that prominently featured the Confederate battle flag. <\/p>\n
A Texas board rejected the license plate because it said many members of the public find the Confederate battle flag offensive. <\/p>\n
Only a handful of proposed specialty license plates have ever rejected by Texas. <\/p>\n
The state offers more than 400 specialty plates featuring an eclectic range of messages. They include God Bless Texas, Vietnam Veteran, Id Rather Be Golfing, and Mighty Fine Burgers, a commercial plug for an Austin burger establishment of high repute. <\/p>\n
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) insist that their proposed license plate is not meant to spread fear or hatred. They view the Confederate flag as a symbol of sacrifice, independence, and Southern heritage, and they argue that the state should not be permitted to muzzle that message. <\/p>\n
The case is potentially important because it forces the justices to explore a murky First Amendment middle ground between government-permitted censorship of objectionable speech in some limited cases and guarantees of free speech in most cases even when that speech is offensive. <\/p>\n
The so-called government speech doctrine allows the government to engage in viewpoint discrimination in its own speech, but it does not allow such discrimination against private speech. Thus, a central question in the case is who is doing the speaking in the production and display of specialty license plates? <\/p>\n
Texas approves and issues a specialty license plate containing a particular message. Next, an individual driver pays extra for the plate, attaches it to her vehicle, and displays the message while driving in public. <\/p>\n
Is the resulting communication the speech of the government or the speech of the individual driver? <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
View original post here: <\/p>\n
Could Texas have Nazi license plates? Supreme Court hears free speech case. (+video)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington The United States Supreme Court began grappling on Monday with a thorny free speech issue: whether a state government can use its authority over specialty license plates to endorse certain messages while censoring others. Continue reading