I support the right of citizens to ask these kinds of questions.
Regards,
Shodan
The liberals today are such a tough bunch to please.
On the one hand, they’re tired of all the racists and bigots spewing their racism from the comfort of their home and computers and want them to show themselves to world so we can all scorn them.
But now, when the racists and bigots want to show themselves to the world on their license plates, all the liberals cry foul.
I guess they only like their free speech when and where it suits them.
Hindus don’t believe in license, they believe in duty.
Where did you get that from this thread? I mean, holy crap, you’ve really misread this. I’m pretty liberal, and I think this plate should be allowed. The ACLU and the NY Times are pretty close to free speech absolutists – are you saying they are conservative bastions? Maryland’s DMV allows this plate but Texas’ doesn’t – which state is redder?
Is it possible for you to approach this from a neutral point of view at all, or is every issue liberal vs. conservative? Jeez.
I have a hard time thinking that there can be no middle ground. It seems to be the position of many posters in this thread (and the attorney in oral argument) that a state may choose not to issue specialty plates, but if it issues ANY at all, it must also allow for the most vile, putrid, and hateful license plates that one can imagine.
Personally, I don’t think that this particular plate is that offensive, but those in charge in Texas believe so. But must they really issue a plate that says: “Texas, Bend over and let me fuck you in the ass!” just because they issue a Texas Tech plate??? Seems silly.
We could solve this problem easily by eliminating all non-essential messages on license plates. If you want to tell everyone that you like gerbils on toast, put it on a bumper sticker.
jtgain Under what law could the government restrict ‘vile and hateful’ speech? If it’s legal to say such things, under what law is it not legal to put them on a license plate? If its legal to put them on a license plate, what possible grounds does the state have to refuse?
Here in Philly, the local transit authority just lost a court battle over a similar thing. A group (American Defense Initiative or something like that) wanted to buy ad space on buses. The ad they wanted to run compared Muslims to Hitler. The transit authority refused to run the ads. The transit authority spent about $100,000 on the case. The court eventually ruled that the ad space was a public forum and that the transit authority could not decline to run an ad if the content was legal.
I’m not seeing any legal leg to stand on for refusing the SOC plate or any other plate that contains legal speech.
Here’s an article on the Hitler ads. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150327_Anti-Muslim_ads_featuring_Hitler_to_run_on_SEPTA_buses.html
Septa, the transit authority, couldn’t find any legal middle ground either. Their only solution to avoiding such ads in the future was to stop carrying ALL political ads.
Other states issue the same plate, but other states don’t issue “Maryland, Bend over and let me fuck you in the ass!” plates. Also, Texas celebrates various Confederate Heroes day and has statues of Confederate heroes, but doesn’t celebrate “Texas, Bend over and let me fuck you in the ass!” day.
Wow! Look at the middle ground!
Under the theory that messages on license plates are not personal speech, but government speech.
The government already prohibits custom license plate numbers that spell out offensive terms. I don’t see how controlling for decals is different.
That said, I think allowing as many variations as Texas does is stupid. The point of the decoration on the license plate is to look official. It’s like saying we should be allowed to customize our money.
If Arkansas allows it, I haven’t seen any such plates around here. There are some official variations for specific circumstances (like antique plates or veteran plates), but it’s not a users’ choice.
Have any of you ever seen “FUCK U” on a license plate? Do you think it’s because no one has ever asked for it? OF COURSE states can restrict what they allow on plates, even when they allow personalized plates.
Well, you’re a lawyer. What’s your opinion? How do you think it will be decided? How do you think it should be decided? Is the Texas Calvary license plate state speech or personal speech? If state speech, is it permitted state speech?
I have to admit, I don’t get why the message should be in license-plate form (as opposed to bumper-sticker form), unless it’s specifically to get some semblance of governmental approval for your views.
It’s just a money making scheme for the states, who probably didn’t give a lot of thought to lawsuits about what messages that people wanted on the plates.
I gather but why does anyone care about their license plate? If there were a bunch of designs and you could choose for free, fine, but to pay extra for it…
Of course, I’m biased by living in a venue where vanity plates were never available. The one time I registered a car elsewhere, I was all "a hundred and seventy-five bucks?! Screw that! "
This seems to happen a lot. Certainly, it’s seen a lot here on SDMB.
“That makes no sense [to me]. I’d never do that/spend money on that/approve of that/hit that. How could it possibly work/make money/get approved/get laid?”
It’s a simple answer: your opinion is yours alone, and apparently in the minority. It works/makes money/gets approved/gets laid because for every one of you, there are hundreds of others who disagree with you and vote with their efforts/dollars/votes/genitals.
Your understanding and approval have absolutely no bearing on the issue, to the extent that it’s a minority in a matter decided by a majority.
So feel free to express your (minority) opinion, but save the indignation for situations when it’s meaningful. Otherwise, it just boils down to “YOU PEOPLE ARE STOOPID BECUZ YOU DISAGREE WITH ME!”
This has been a public service announcement.
Got me. I’ve never even put a bumper sticker on my car, let alone a vanity plate. I guess there’s a good reason why they’re called vanity plates.
MY car is too beautiful for defacement by such travesties.
Thanks for the social psychology lesson, but this isn’t just a “me no understand” objection. Is there a difference between a bumper sticker and a custom license plate that express the same message other than the latter having some level of official approval since the plate is technically a government document?
Well, I don’t know how common custom bumper stickers are, but a vanity plate contains the message the purchaser wants, both in design (putting it closer to the realm of bumper stickers) and possibly in vanity tag ID selected.
If you’re pointing out that a vanity design license plate has no advantage over a bumper sticker, you’re right, except from one point of view: the state can make money off of a vanity design license plate.
To put it more succinctly: if you ask “what problem does a vanity license plate uniquely solve”, the answer is “making states money off of suckers.”
But for the state, that’s more than enough reason. (I’m sure the risk of having to defend limitations of free speech was pooh-poohed in the committee meetings that planned this madness.)