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Vanity License Plates and Freedom of Speech

posted by CoolHand on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the lemme-say-whut-i-want dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Recently, oral arguments were heard regarding a case about license plates and the first amendment. The Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has challenged a rejection of their proposed plate that had images of the Confederate flag.

The Texas solicitor general argued that, "Messages on Texas license plates are government speech ... [because] Texas etches its name onto each license plate and Texas law gives the state sole control and final approval authority over everything that appears on a license plate.”

Please share your ideas/comments on this case or your views on vanity plates in general.

Story: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-confederate-license-plates-20150323-story.html
Case: http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2014/2014_14_144
What a vanity plate is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate

 
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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:18PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:18PM (#166724) Journal

    What is specifically so offensive about "H982 FKL" ..?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:38PM

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:38PM (#166738) Journal
    The Falklands War between the UK and Argentina took place in 1982. At least that is the connection that was deemed offensive during the visit to Argentina. Now, the Argentinians don't call them the Falkland Islands, but the Islas Malvinas so perhaps the TopGear team thought it wouldn't be spotted - although publicly they claim that they hadn't even realised the possible connection.

  • (Score: 2) by Jaruzel on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:42PM

    by Jaruzel (812) on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:42PM (#166739) Homepage Journal

    The Falklands War [wikipedia.org] happened in 1982, the number plate has the digits 982. Falklands abbreviated is FKL.

    The Argentinians lost the war, and have been bitter ever since, and semi-regularly kick up political rumblings about the Falklands Islands being theirs, even though the islanders had a referendum and voted to stay British.

    --
    This is my opinion, there are many others, but this one is mine.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:12PM

      by frojack (1554) on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:12PM (#166747) Journal

      I guess the proof of the pudding would be if the plate was a vanity plate or a run of the mill British Plate.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.

      • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:46PM

        by Whoever (4524) on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:46PM (#166774) Journal

        The UK doesn't have vanity plates in the same way that most if not all USA states do. Plates issued must fit into the existing letter/number patterns. However, very old license plates often had interesting combinations and have significant value.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:05PM (#166744)

    Come on dude, he provides a link to the explanation and you still expect him to explain it to you?

    Clicking and reading would have taken you less time than posting.