Court Reversal Allows North Carolina to Approve Anti-Abortion License Plates, Deny Pro-Choice Plates
Monday, March 14, 2016
By Dan McCue, Courthouse News Service
... The appeals court previously ruled against issuance of the "Choose Life" plate, finding it unconstitutional to issue one while rejecting a request that it sell an abortion rights-themed plate.
However, the state appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 2015, instructed the Fourth Circuit to reconsider its position in light of a ruling in a Texas case, Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans (pdf), in which the high court said the Lone Star State could reject a proposal for plates featuring a Confederate battle flag.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the appeal court split 2-1 over the issue.
"We now conclude that specialty license plates issued under North Carolina's program amount to government speech and that North Carolina is therefore free to reject license plate designs that convey messages with which it disagrees," Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler wrote for the majority ...
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/court-reversal-allows-north-carolina-to-approve-anti-abortion-license-plates-deny-pro-choice-plates-160314?news=858469
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