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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: 3, Informative) by TLA on Sunday April 05 2015, @05:25PM

    by TLA (5128) on Sunday April 05 2015, @05:25PM (#166701) Journal

    If you don't get the reference, the BBC show Top Gear was recording an episode through South America last year, and nearly (well, actually) caused a diplomatic incident with one of the licence plates on the show cars (Clarkson's, as it happened: H982 FKL was on his Porsche). The whole potentially explosive, but to me utterly hilarious, story is right here [telegraph.co.uk].

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:15PM

    by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:15PM (#166720) Journal

    Clarkson?

    Stupid Tory twat.

    That man should learn to hold his cocaine, or refrain from public appearance. Englishman driving a German car, while reviving a 20-year old conflict and invasion? Appalling stupidity and lack of insight. It's really too rich.

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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" ..?

    • (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.

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      • (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.

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        • (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.