© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

From Texas, A Supreme Court Case For Confederate Flag License Plates

There are more than 300 specialty plates in Texas, paying tribute to things like wild turkeys, Dr. Pepper and the fight against terrorism.

But when one group submitted a plate design with their logo — a Confederate flag — it was rejected by Texas officials. On Monday, the constitutionality of that rejection will be considered by the Supreme Court.

At issue is whether the license plates constitute government speech or an individual’s private speech.

“The concern on the part of states … is where does this end?” USA Today Supreme Court correspondent Richard Wolftells  Here & Now’s Robin Young . “If [they] have a license plate that says fight terrorism do [they] also need a license plate that says support al-Qaeda?”

Other state governments have filed amicus court briefs in support of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicle’s decision.

“The governments say this is on a government license plate, we obviously have a stake in this game,” Wolf said. “We have final approval. And the other argument is, Well, that plate wouldn’t go anywhere if a private individual wasn’t going out of his driveway and driving around with it , so its the private individual who’s doing the talking.”

Guest

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.