'Choose life' license plate case has win
The 9th Circus are the good guys for once!
"An anti-abortion group has won its long legal fight to force Arizona to issue "choose life" license plates, after the Supreme Court declined to take the case. The justices, without comment Monday, left in place an appeals court ruling in favor of the Arizona Life Coalition, which has sought the special plates for six years. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, said the state commission on license plates violated the group's constitutional right to free speech by turning down its application.
Source
14 comments:
Well the 9th Circus had to get at least ONE right! Even a blind dog finds a bone now and then!
maybe the regular crew of clowns are all on the campaign trail, rooting for the Obamessiah, and the clerks wrote the ruling on their own?
so licence plates becomes a level of democratic debate in the US - sad!
so licence plates becomes a level of democratic debate in the US - sad!
There are but two options here:
1) you really don't understand what specialized license plates are
-or-
2) you want the government to suppress points of view - especially political points of view - because you don't like the messenger.
In many places around the country, license plates are the property of the state that issues them, and as such, should not carry "any" political or religious message!
The 9th Circus actually said that?
"so licence plates becomes a level of democratic debate in the US - sad!"
Dear anon,
Personalized licence plates and bumper stickers are part and parcel of Americana.
In most of Europe Plates are assigned to the car and stay with the car till it's scrapped.
In Ireland you rarely see a bumper sticker. The rare case is when someone has paid a visit to Disney World and brought one back.
Putting a controvertial bumper sticker on your car in Ireland is inviting it to be burnt-out.
And it's the Burner who gets to decide if it's "controvertial".
ignorant anonymous:
"In many places around the country, license plates are the property of the state that issues them, and as such, should not carry "any" political or religious message!"
so if the state or government has libraries then those libraries cannot have books (owned by the state) that have political or religious messages such as the Bible?
Your argument is weak.
The clause in the US Constitution only prohibits the Federal Government from adopting an official religion and (here's the important part the people who'd like to suppress religion would like everyone to forget) also prohibits the government from interfering with the free expression of that religion.
BTW - You don't have to be religious in order to be pro-Life and there are plenty of "religious" people on the other side too so don't be so ignorant.
In many places around the country, license plates are the property of the state that issues them, and as such, should not carry "any" political or religious message!
Once a state elects to have messages on the license plates, it should be difficult for the state to censor the message on the plates as long as the plates meet the application standards. Speciality plates are cash cows for the state and the organizations promoted by the plates.
If the state is going to allow them, they must take the milk with the cow.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. In South Carolina, there is an "In God We Trust" plate, and there is also an "In Reason We Trust" plate. Equal time, equal representation, and completely fair. (Of course, how many "Reason" plates they've actually sold compared to the "In God" plates is another story....)
I'm honestly anxious to see if a "Choose Abortion" or "Choose Choice" or some other such plate ever surfaces. Or will they just complain that things are one-sided?
So a license plate that reads "Homosexuality Is A Sin" is acceptable/legal? How about "I Hate Obama"?
And if it's your personal choice, would it not be protected by the First Amendment, since one is a religious belief and the other political speech?
So a license plate that reads "Homosexuality Is A Sin" is acceptable/legal? How about "I Hate Obama"?
Most states require that the specialized plate not attack or advocate violence. That is part of the vetting process.
Here you had a plate that met the requirements of the state, but was denied because some one didn't like the message. The group is a non-profit group and thus eligible under the law to request the plates. The "content" requirements are these:
[t]he [C]ommission shall authorize a special organization plate if the organization meets the following requirements:
(1) The primary activity or interest of the organization serves the community, contributes
to the welfare of others and is not
offensive or discriminatory in its purpose, nature, activity or name[;]
(2) The name of the organization or any part of the organization’s purpose does not promote any specific product or brand
name that is provided for sale[;] and
(3) The purpose of the organization does not promote a specific religion, faith or
antireligious belief.
(emphasis added)
The court held that once the plate met the requirements, the government had no right to censor the private free speech of individuals. The state was required to approve the plate under its own statutes. The group also claimed their rights under the fourth amendment were violated but the Court didn't rule on that because they found for the group on the free speech issue, rendering any additional issue moot.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD has tried to silence prolife antiabortionists but the case of FREEDOM OF SPEECH is very important and if whinny liberals dont like it then they can go live with CASTRO im sure he would enjoy their company
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