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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 wonkey_monkey on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:15PM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:15PM (#166748) Homepage

    Supposedly, when they took the car for filming to Argentina, the Argentines got upset because they thought it was an overt reference to the 1982 Falkland War.

    However, Argentina does have a track record of going out of their way to be highly offended over the Falklands.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @01:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @01:16AM (#166809)

    It was clearly a reference to the war. Top Gear has a history of being totally un-politically-correct - that is (was?) part of it's charm. They're not racist, they take the mick out of everyone equally, including themselves. However, when they're called on it they have a nasty habit of denying things which are *obviously* true. What are the chances they got that numberplate by accident? Almost zero.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 06 2015, @12:03PM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Monday April 06 2015, @12:03PM (#166926) Homepage
    So is it true that "Malvinas" means "sour grapes" in spanish?
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    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday April 06 2015, @03:41PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday April 06 2015, @03:41PM (#167011) Homepage

      According to Google, "mal viñas" translates as "bad vines" - but it doesn't translate back to the same words.

      The name Malvinas comes from the original French name.

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