High Court Free Speech Ruling On License Plates Is Wrong
Law360, New York ( March 2, 2016, 5:21 PM EST) -- In its recent decision in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc. , 135 S. Ct. 2239 (2015), a five-justice majority of the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that messages on specialty license plates are "government speech" to which the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause does not apply. As a result, the court held that a state may deny an application for a specialty license plate featuring a Confederate battle flag based on a viewpoint that the flag is perceived to express. Neither the majority nor the four-justice dissent mentioned the important fact that specialty license plates are displayed on private property — specifically, privately owned motor vehicles. This fact distinguishes the primary government speech case on which the majority relied and provides a compelling reason to treat specialty license plates as private speech to which the Free Speech Clause applies. . . .
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