A state motor vehicle board turned down a request by the Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for a license plate with its logo bearing the confederate flag. The justices are hearing arguments Monday to decide whether the state violated the group’s First Amendment rights. Officials believe that putting the battle flag on license plates would offend many Texans who believe the flag is a racially charged symbol. Texas’ main argument to the Supreme Court is that the license plate is not like a bumper sticker slapped on the car by its driver. Instead, the state said license plates are government property, and so what appears on them is not private individuals’ speech but the government’s. The First Amendment applies when governments try to regulate the speech of others, but not when governments are doing the talking.
This relates to APUSH because the Civil War is known as a very dark time where Americans killed other Americans. Having the confederate flag on a government issued license plate would be highly inappropriate and make our state look preposterous. It might not seem to be that big of a deal and yes we are supposed to be protected by the first amendment to basically express ourselves in any way, but going through all the trouble to get this approved by the GOVERNMENT is too much work when you can easily get a confederate flag bumper sticker.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/supreme-court-decide-confederate-flag-texas-plate-article-1.2159282
Interesting correlation, and I would agree that getting a bumper sticker would be a lot simpler. Maybe they're trying to make a point with it?
ReplyDelete- Hannah Kalan 6th Period
I agree. I feel like technically, the first amendment doesn't apply because a license plate is government issued. However, I feel like the license plate would cause a lot of controversy, so I just wouldn't go for it, personally.
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