Confederate Flag License Case Has Court Seeking Middle Ground

[Purveyor]

by Greg Stohr
11:19 AM EDT March 23, 2015


(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Supreme Court justices found no easy answers as they considered whether Texas officials must issue a license plate depicting the Confederate battle flag.

Hearing arguments today in Washington, the justices worked to find a middle ground -- with few signs of success -- as they weighed a free-speech dispute with implications for dozens of states with specialty license-plate programs.

A federal appeals court ruled that Texas violated the Constitution when officials rejected an application by the state chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans while issuing more than 350 other specialty plates.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-23/confederate-flag-license-case-has-court-seeking-middle-ground

[world wide wally]

1. In all honesty, isn't that the flag of a country that once fought against th US?

[onenote]

2. so are the flags of the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, and a bunch of other countries

Should the display of those flags be banned? Is there a particular basis for banning the appearance of the flag on a license plate as opposed to pasting it to the side of your car?

The issue (and its not an easy one for the court) is whether the issuance of personalized licenses is speech by the state or speech by the individual.

[kwassa]

3. It has to be speech by the state. They made the license plate.

The individual didn't create the plate and stick on their car with their own individual design.

[onenote]

4. If it's speech by the state, can the state prevent you from altering the message?

For example, if the speech is that of the state and not the individual, then when certain groups were prohibited from taping over the "Live Free or Die" message on New Hampshire's plates, should they have lost the case?

The case is not an easy one. The First Amendment protects not only one's right to speak but also one's right not to speak.

[flobee1]

5. I say, let them have ir

It will make it easier to spot the idiots

[Go Vols]

6. Most Southern States already have them