SCOTUS Defeats Confederacy In Ruling Over License Plate Images

General Sherman denied the Confederacy victory in the Civil War. 150 years later, the Supreme Court denied Confederate sympathizers license plate images.

confederate flag license plate images
Image via Wikimedia Commons

In a 5-4 verdict, with the majority surprisingly joined by rabid-conservative justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Texas did not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution by denying the Sons of Confederate Veterans vanity licence plates containing an image of the Confederate battle flag. In the majority opinion, the highest court in the United States ruled that license plate images were government speech, not private speech. This means the government does not need to have a neutral standpoint when it comes to what license plate images it produces through vanity plate programs.

From the Huffington Post:

“‘When government speaks, it is not barred by the Free Speech Clause from determining the content of what it says,’ Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority opinion.”

The Supreme Court’s decision overrules a decision leveled last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit ruled that the state of Texas had violated the First Amendment rights of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

For me to speak highly of something the Texas government does is a rare occurrence. I think there is a better chance of someone being struck by lightning than hearing or reading something positive I may have to say about the state government. But I give credit where it is due and I believe the state did the right thing in denying Sons of Confederate Veterans a vanity plate.

The court majority in?Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.?is composed of Justice Breyer, Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Kagan, and Justice Sotomayor, while the dissenting members are Justice Alito, Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia, and Justice Kennedy.

Robert could go on about how he was raised by honey badgers in the Texas Hill Country, or how he was elected to the Texas state legislature as a 19-year-old wunderkind, or how he won 219 consecutive games of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots against Hugh Grant, but those would be lies. However, Robert does hail from Lewisville, Texas, having been transplanted from Fort Worth at a young age. Robert is a college student and focuses his studies on philosophical dilemmas involving morality, which he feels makes him very qualified to write about politicians. Reading the Bible turned Robert into an atheist, a combative disposition toward greed turned him into a humanist, and the fact he has not lost a game of Madden football in over a decade means you can call him "Zeus." If you would like to be his friend, you can send him a Facebook request or follow his ramblings on Twitter. For additional content that may not make it to Liberal America, Robert's internet tavern, The Zephyr Lounge, is always open