"IRISH" is O.K. - Supreme Court says woman can have vanity license plates on car that say "IRISH"

wcax ^

[chance33_98]

"IRISH" is O.K.

Montpelier, Vermont - February 7, 2003

The Vermont Supreme Court says Carol Ann Martin can have vanity license plates on her car that say "IRISH". The Motor Vehicle Department had refused to issue the plates saying that "IRISH" or "IRISH-1" might be "offensive or confusing" to the public. A divided Supreme Court ruled today that rejection went beyond the scope of the law.

Martin's lawyer says the 3-to-2 decision makes sense. "I think it's a victory for sort of common sense because it allows people to have plates like 'IRISH' and one could argue that under no circumstances would Irish be considered offensive or confusing to individuals which is what the underlying statute says," Martin's lawyer, John Bloomer, told Channel 3 News. "It's one of those issues where it's an interpretation of a statute and I think the agency made an overly broad interpretation."

Bloomer, who is also a state senator, went on to say that it might be time for the Legislature to give the Department of Motor Vehicles further instructions as to what vanity plates are proper on Vermont bumpers.

While Chief Justice Jeff Amestoy wrote the majority opinion approving the IRISH plate, Justices Denise Johnson and John Dooley dissented saying the DMV had the legal authority to take "potentially offensive terms off the table."

[jimkress]

The sad thing is, two of these idiots voted to NOT let the woman have IRISH on her plates.

[Faith]

Based on the vanity plates I see in Ohio, I cannot understand why "Irish" would even be an issue.

[aristeides]

Irishmen like me in general pride ourselves on our thick skins. But I must admit that the idea that anyone would think the word "Irish" offensive for some reason bothers me some.

[eastforker]

An old saying"I'd rather be dead than red on the head"

[EggsAckley]

For the life of me, I CAN'T understand who would be offended. Do they not have better things to do in that state?

[Britton J Wingfield]

Cool, now I can put in for my platethat says WOPDAGO.

[AndyJackson]

3-2 is not a victory for common sense. What is shows is that common sense is on the ropes and struggling to survive.

[gitmo]

Officer, I was driving along and saw a license plate in front of me that said "IRISH". I was so confused that I ran off the road, across several people, and into the river. It's all the fault of that license plate.

[Cagey]

Many anti-Notre Dame fans find the word "Irish" extremely offensive.

[Loyalist]

PING

[Cicero]

I can think of a few offensive words that shouldn't be allowed on license plates, but Irish isn't one of them. The sad thing is that reasonable laws rely on reasonable judges, and reasonable judges seem to be very far and few these days. It's got to be all or nothing, apparently.

[Sacajaweau]

I have that desire to paste Shamrocks all over my car AND red circles.

[AndyJackson]

...Justices Denise Johnson and John Dooley dissented saying the DMV had the legal authority to take "potentially offensive terms off the table."

Good grief - this is even worse, and it is clear that they have a lot of slow days up there on the Vermont SC. Perhaps under 1st ammendment article one could challenge whether the DMV has the right to restrict speech on license plates, but this is what happens when courts are inclined to turn narrow issues into broad ones. But even worse, since when do courts have the authority to prevent something that "might happen?" Instead of sticking to whether such and such a person was actually offended and therefore what could DMV do about it, they hypothesize that someone might be offended by the word "Irish."

I would think that under our liberal beliefs in tolerance what should be offensive is not someone taking pride in their ethnic heritage, but rather someone taking offense at someone else's pride in his ethnic heritage. After all, I think that I would be viewed as a racist by these same folks if I were to take offense at a Native American having a license plate that said "Native American" or "Navajo-1" or some such.

[Tealc]

Those losers should keep things in perspective. (Warning: a tad nasty)

[AndyJackson]

Many anti-Notre Dame fans find the word "Irish" extremely offensive

But do any of them actually live in Vermont?

[kaylar]

Reminds me of the housing project in Boston, MA, which tried to ban all St Patrick's Day decorations. This was in 2000 IIRC. Apparently that was considered too ethnic a celebration , and hence offensive to "other residents".

[Sacajaweau]

Well, if the folks from Notre Dame would find that so offensive, theoretically, Notre Dame is guilty of a "hate" crime.

[Tall_Texan]

What's worse is she had the "IRISH" license plate in a holder that said "Washington Redskins". No wonder the vote was so close.

[and the horse you rode in on]

Cool, now I can put in for my platethat says WOPDAGO

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