California can’t ban offensive license plates, judge rules
California can’t implement a ban vanity license plates it considers “offensive to good taste and decency” as a result of that violates freedom of speech, a federal judge dominated Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar dominated in a case filed in March in opposition to Department of Motor Vehicles Director Steve Gordon on behalf of 5 Californians who have been denied permission to place their messages on customized license plates.
They included a homosexual man in Oakland who owns Queer Folks Records and wished to make use of the phrase “QUEER” but was refused because the DMV said that might be considered insulting; a fan of the rock band Slayer who was notified that “SLAAYRR” would be considered “threatening, aggressive or hostile” and an Army veteran who wanted to note his nickname and love of wolves with “OGWOOLF” but was refused because the DMV said the OG might be construed as a reference to “original gangster.”
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An SUV with a customized license plate is seen in Beverly Hills, Calif on May 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Others have been refused as a result of their plates would possibly look or sound like a swear phrase or could be construed as sexual, in keeping with the judge’s ruling.
Citing U.S. Supreme Court free-speech circumstances, the judge struck down a DMV normal that mentioned self-importance license plate configurations can’t carry “connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”
The judge mentioned the customized messages have been varieties of private expression, not “government speech,” and due to this fact laws governing them “must be both viewpoint-neutral and reasonable.”
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He noted a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case allowing an Asian American rock band to call itself The Slants in saying that public speech can’t be barred because it may offend some people.
However, Tigar said the DMV probably could be permitted to deny plates that are, for instance, obscene, profane or contain hate speech because they fall outside of First Amendment protections.
“This is a great day for our clients and the 250,000 Californians that seek to express their messages on personalized license plates each year,” legal professional Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Vague bans on offensive speech allow bureaucrats to inject their subjective preferences and undermine the rule of law.”
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The DMV was reviewing the ruling and declined further comment, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
