Posted on 04/27/2009 9:55:59 AM PDT by reaganaut1
[A case] involving license plates that say “Choose Life,” is heading toward the [Supreme Court].
No one is forced to use the plates, which are available in 19 states and seem intended to appeal to those who oppose abortion rights. They are so-called “specialty plates,” which are available for an extra fee to people who want to express themselves through their license plates.
...
[Florida] sells, for $20 extra, a bright yellow plate with the cartoonish faces of two smiling children and the words “Choose Life.” The state says it raised more than $33 million from specialty plates in the 2007 fiscal year and turned most of the money over to private groups.
The “Choose Life” plate generated about $800,000 that year. A state law requires that the money raised from those plates, after administrative expenses are deducted, be given to adoption agencies. The law forbids sharing the money with groups offering “counseling for or referrals to abortion clinics.”
Illinois, on the other hand, has refused to issue a “Choose Life” plate, a decision that was challenged by a group called Choose Life Illinois, which promotes adoption. The federal appeals court in Chicago upheld Illinois’ refusal in November, and this month the losing side asked the Supreme Court to return to the question of what the constitution has to say about speech on license plates.
The Supreme Court has turned back at least four requests to hear cases concerning “Choose Life” license plates in recent years. But the volume of litigation on this question and the doctrinal free-for-all it has given rise to in the lower courts have convinced many legal scholars that the court must soon step in.
There have been lawsuits in Arizona, California, Missouri, New York and New Jersey challenging denials of “Choose Life” plates.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’ve got a “salute” for B. Hussein Obama, a salute indicating that he’s number 1...
This is what happens when Government goes into the “business of making money”. Stores, companies, non-profits all cater to specific individuals. Not everyone will be happy with all stores, but that is the free market at work.
States should issue one plate. If people want to express themselves, they can buy a bumper sticker.
Geee! You would think the Supreme Court would have some other pressing matters to consider.
They’re going to HEAR THE CASE!?!?!?
They won’t touch any of the Obama BC cases with a 10 foot pole, but they’re going to hear this silly case about license plates? As if it has any real effect on the actual life of anybody in the entire freaking country?
That’s a load of craparoony.
I’d like to see one that says “Choose Death” with the extra $20 going to Planned Parenthood.
This is Sooooo old.
isn’t there a state with a chose abortion? (or woman right to choose abortion along those lines)
If the plates do not sell their minimum then they are financial losers and the plate is pulled from the availability.
If you can’t “CHOOSE LIFE”, how about “ABORT DEMOCRATS”?
This is clearly an issue that the USSC should have no say in at all.
Might as well just eliminate the 10th Amendment...
there are limits to what plates can say but up to a point.
These vanity plates have to be content neutral. They allow sports team plates. Even private universites have their plates.
There are art plates, animal plates, hobby plates, military plates, (no community organizer plates), and on and on.
There are expressions of not only speech BUT ASSOCIATION.
States should issue one plate. If people want to express themselves, they can buy a bumper sticker.
I could not agree more! You can not only buy a bumper sticker, you can buy a license plate holder that has anything you want to say on it. Governments have no business in that business, period.
I have one of those bright yellow Florida Choose Life plates!
As long as they’re discussing birth, they should have a look to see if hussein 0bama is natural born.
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