Supreme Court Says Texas Can Ban Racist Plates

Texas allows certain groups to create their own "vanity" license plates. These plates cost more, and some of the extra money goes to the organization creating the plates. About 5 years ago, the Sons of Confederate Veterans asked the state to allow a plate supporting their organization (pictured above) -- a plate that would have the Confederate battle flag on it.

The state refused to allow the license plate, saying it would be considered offensive by many Texas citizens. I believe they were correct in denying the plate (and I certainly found it offensive). It would be tantamount to the state support (or at least condoning) a racist symbol.

The Sons of Confederate victims filed suit to force the state to issue their plates, claiming the denial was a violation of their freedom of speech -- and a lower court agreed with that argument, saying Texas must issue the plate. Texas appealed to the Supreme Court. They did not see this as a free speech issue (and neither do I).

The Supreme Court has now ruled, and it came down on the side of Texas in a 5 to 4 decision. In an unexpected move, Justice Thomas joined the court's four liberals in saying the state had the right to refuse to issue the plate. The court said:

 "just as Texas cannot require (Sons of Confederate Veterans) to convey 'the state's ideological message...(the Sons of Confederate Veterans) cannot force Texas to include a Confederate battle flag on its specialty license plates."

Court Orders Texas To Allow Offensive License Plate

Texas sells a variety of "vanity" license plates. These plates identify the car owner as supporting a particular cause -- and the plates cost more, with the state and the cause splitting the additional money. The Sons of Confederate Veterans wanted one of these vanity plates produced and sold, but the state refused -- recognizing that a plate with the confederate battle flag on it (see image above) would be viewed as racist and offensive by many Texans.

Unfortunately, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. They said Texas must produce and sell the plate. The court decided that Texas had discriminated against the viewpoint of those who wanted the plate, and that the state had no right to decide for a car's owner what view was appropriate and what view was not appropriate.

This decision could well open the floodgates to any kind of opinion being on a plate. In the past, the state had allowed religious plates (christian), but not plates promoting atheism (or other religions). Will the state now have to allow plates supporting (and funding) atheist and muslim groups? How about support and funding for right-wing militias or communists? Is there any group that would be considered too offensive for a vanity plate in light of this court decision?

I find myself in a quandary over this court decision. On one hand, I agree with the court's idea that the state has no business deciding what ideas are appropriate and what ideas are not. On the other hand, I don't think the state should be forced to be a party to offensive speech or images being promoted to the public. I personally view the confederate battle flag to be an offensive symbol of racism and hate, but if other ideas can be promoted on a plate, then offensive ideas should be allowed too -- that's the basis of freedom of speech which is guaranteed in our Constitution.

But maybe it's time to remember why we have license plates. Their purpose is to allow law enforcement (and witnesses to crimes and accidents) to be able to identify a particular car. They were never meant to be tiny traveling billboards advertising ideas or organizations the car owner likes. That's what bumper stickers are for. All a license plate needs is the name of the state issuing it and a series of numbers (or a combination of letters and numbers) that identify the particular car. Anything else is extraneous, and in my opinion, just makes it more difficult to read the identifying state and numbers on the plate.

I think Texas (and other states) should go to using a plate with nothing but the state's name and identifying numbers and letters -- and nothing else. I know the state gets a bit of money from selling the vanity plates, but that revenue is minuscule when compared to the state budget -- and the state could easily do without it. Let the organizations and ideas be promoted on bumper stickers.

That's my opinion -- but if the state chooses to continue selling the vanity plates, then I want to be able to buy a vanity plate promoting (and helping to fund) some atheist organization. What do you think?

Texas Agency Ignores The Constitution

Once again Rick perry and his right-wing fundamentalist appointees have decided that the Constitution of the United States has no relevance in Texas. After all, why bother with a trivial constitutional right like religious freedom, when they can put the state government in the position of favoring their own religion over all others. Evidently those misguided Founding Fathers didn't understand the joys of a state-approved religion when they penned and approved the Bill of Rights.

Yesterday the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board, following the lead of Governor Rick Perry (who held a christians-only rally last August in Houston), approved a speciality license plate celebrating the christian religion (pictured above). Of course there is no speciality plate honoring islam, hinduism, judaism, taoism, buddhism, or any other religion -- evidently because the state's officially-approved religion is now christianity. And of course there is no speciality plate honoring the right to be an atheist (heaven forbid!). While christians now have the right to broadcast their religion on state-approved license plates, no other religious belief can do that in the Texas theocracy.

Making matters worse is the fact that when the now-approved specialty plate was up for public discussion a large number of Texans opposed it. The board (composed entirely of Perry appointees) wasn't really interested in what the public thought. They were just going through the motions until they could give their final approval for the new state-approved religion.

Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller expressed her disappointment at the state's unconstitutional action:

“It’s become pretty clear that our governor is dismissive of religious beliefs other than his own, and now his governmental appointees have voted to send a message that Texas is unwelcoming to the religious faiths of some of its citizens. The truth is that giving government the power to play favorites with faith ultimately diminishes religious freedom for everyone.”


Pastor of the University Baptist Church in Austin, the Reverend Dr. Larry Bethune, agreed with Ms. Miller saying:

“I’m disappointed to see the state endorse a particular faith, even if it’s mine, and to see Christians trivialize our faith into slogans and symbols on the back of a bumper."

All I can say at this point is that Americans are very lucky that the Republican Party outside Texas seems to be rejecting theocratic despot Rick Perry. He would have loved the opportunity to make his brand of right-wing christianity the state-approved religion for the entire nation.

Texas Rejects Confederate License Plate

The picture above shows the license plate that the Sons of Confederate Veterans wanted Texas to approve. The speciality plate would have raised money for the organization -- money they said would be spent honoring Confederate veterans of the Civil War.

The problem with that is that the plate contained the Confederate battle flag, which has become a symbols for hatred and racism across this country. State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) put it well when he told the Department of Motor Vehicles Board, "The state of Texas should not sanction what's become a symbol of hatred and racism. The Confederate battle flag has become a symbol of violence, repression, not heritage."

On Thursday, that board voted unanimously to reject the proposed plate. It was the proper decision and I'm very glad the board decided that way. But don't get the idea that Texas Republicans have mended their ways and now want to champion equal rights and minority rights. That's not why the decision was made.

You have to understand that every single one of these board members was appointed by Governor Rick Perry, who just happens to be running for president at the current time. Perry is not the brightest bulb on the tree, but even he knows that an open racist cannot be elected president. Just a few days ago, he made a public statement saying he opposed approving the plate. These board members were simply giving their "boss" what he wanted.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans have indicated they will not give up their efforts to have the plate approved, complete with it's symbol of hate. They may go to court, or they may just wait until the election season is over. Either way, this fight is not over, and there's still a good chance the plate might be approved in the future.

Defeating racism has never been easy. It is a continuing fight that decent people of all colors must wage every day.

Racist License Plate Proposed For Texas

The Sons of Confederate Veterans have asked the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to approve the above license plate. They believe the plate, bearing the battle flag of the Confederacy, would be appropriate here in the 150th year since the start of the Civil War.

The DMV has taken one vote on the matter and it ended in a tie (with one board member absent). It takes a majority to approve a new plate, so the group was one vote short of getting the plate approved. There will be another vote on this matter -- after Governor Perry appoints a new board member in September (to replace one that died recently).

The group is saying they want to honor Southern heritage. I have to wonder though if this is a heritage that should be honored. This battle flag they want to put on Texas plates was the flag of an enemy of the United States. It was also the flag of an army that fought to defend the institution of slavery. And it has been used since the end of the Civil War as an emblem celebrating racism by many racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.

Instead of representing a heritage worthy of honor, this flag is seen as a symbol of hatred by most people these days. And it is a reminder of oppression and segregation to many. Personally, I think it would make just as much sense to put a swastika on a license plate to honor German immigrants in the state -- which would also represent an enemy of this country and oppression of another group (Jews).

Symbols of oppression and bigotry honor no one, and that's what this flag has become. It should never be approved to go on any official state property -- not license plates or anything else.

Judge Bans S.C. License Plate

Right-wing politicians have no shame when it comes to pandering to their fundamentalist christian base. They don't mind violating the Constitution at all, if it'll get them a few more votes by playing the religion card.

Thank goodness our Founding Fathers foresaw the short-sighted and self-indulgent behavior of politicians (and many voters), and gave us the Bill of Rights to go with our Constitution. Otherwise, we would already be living in a theistic dictatorship rather than the secular constitutional democracy that was intended.

A good example of this is the recent action by state politicians in South Carolina. They decided to reassure their re-election by creating a special license plate to appease their fundamentalist voters. They designed and approved a speciality plate with a cross, a stained glass window and the words "I BELIEVE" on it.

Lt. Governor Andre Bauer said approval of the plate was a "free speech" issue. He said it was ridiculous that the state had 103 different speciality plates, and yet didn't have a plate for christians. But the truth is that the move actually restricts speech rather than insuring free speech.

That's because the state singled out the christian religion to be honored with a plate. They did not approve a plate to honor any other religion (or one to honor non-religious thought - atheism). Because they only created a christian plate, that amounted to the state sanctioning a single religion -- a clear violation of the United States Constitution.

And that's exactly what District Judge Cameron Currie said when she struck down the law and banned the christian-only license plate. She said the law amounted to a state endorsement of christianity.

Judge Currie went on to say, "Whether motivated by sincerely-held christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same. The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of it's implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary litigation."

It's a good thing we have honest judges to uphold the Constitution and protect our secular democracy.

New Texas License Plate Chosen

If TxDOT was afraid no one would want to vote on a new Texas license plate, they needn't have worried. Over 1.2 million votes were cast by computer. The winner by a significant margin was the plate called Lone Star Texas (pictured above).

The winning plate received 456,685 votes. The Natural Texas plate (which showed a field of wildflowers) finished second with 295,057 votes. The license plate currently being used finished last out of five choices, getting only 114,662 votes.

The winning plate will now be presented to the Texas Transportation Commission on February 28th for final approval. The new plates will start being issued in 2009.

Texans To Choose New License Plate

Do you like the current license plate the state of Texas is using? If you don't, this week is your chance to vote on changing it. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is letting Texans vote for this week only on what they would like their new license plate to look like.

The new plates will start being issued in 2009. If you'd like to vote, you can do so at http://www.txdot.gov/. There are four choices of new plates and the current plate to choose from. The choices are:

- NEW TEXAS. This red, white and blue plate features a composite of skylines from several Texas cities at the bottom and the word "Texas" in black script at the top.

- TRADITIONAL TEXAS. This plate features blue highlights and a stark, white background with a gold Texas star at the bottom and a bold, red "Texas" in capital letters at the top.

- LONE STAR TEXAS. A white star stands out in the top left corner along with wide brushes of red and blue against a large Texas sky. A low-lying mountain range runs along the bottom.

- NATURAL TEXAS. The plate is covered with wildflowers.

- MY TEXAS. The current plate that is being used.