Texas should be able to determine message on plates

In 2011, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans decided to commemorate the event with a specialty license plate bearing the organization’s symbol.

But that symbol, the Confederate battle flag, is offensive to many. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board rightly rejected the group’s application.

The SCV sued in federal court, claiming that its constitutionally protected free speech rights had been violated. The district court sided with the state, ruling that the First Amendment doesn’t require Texas to place the symbol on government-controlled property.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last year overturned the lower court’s decision on a 2-1 vote, saying the state could not favor one viewpoint over another.

“By rejecting the plate because it was offensive, the board discriminated against Texas SCV’s view that the Confederate flag is a symbol of sacrifice, independence and Southern heritage,” the judges wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court now has said it will hear the case, and presumably will decide whether Texas is engaging in “viewpoint discrimination” by denying the specialty plates or has the right to decide what words and symbols it will place on its property.

Attorney General (now governor-elect) Greg Abbott’s office argued that the 5th Circuit’s ruling would have “untenable consequences.”

The state said under the ruling “it is not apparent how the state could exclude profanity, sacrilege or overt racism from its specialty license plates.”

Since 2009, the vendor My Plates has sold more than 185,000 specialty plates, adding $22.7 million to state coffers and hundreds of thousands of dollars for colleges, charities and scholarships.

It would be nice to continue the program.

But if the Supreme Court were to rule that Texas could not determine the messages and symbols on specialty license plates, it would be in the state’s best interest to drop them altogether.

This story was originally published December 10, 2014 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Texas should be able to determine message on plates."