In the case of Whateley v Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
"Does Virginia
speak for itself through the character combinations on the personalized plates it issues – in
which case, it is entitled to express the views of its choice?
Or do Virginia’s personalized
plates convey the private speech of drivers like Whateley – in which case, government
restrictions on that speech must pass muster under the First Amendment?"
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Virginia’s personalized license plate messages ARE private (free) speech subject to 1st
Amendment protection the govt may not censor
And of course, the starched shirts in state govt won't have any free speech go uncensored, and immediately replied that this will be appealed to the Supreme Court
“The commonwealth has a responsibility to ensure that state-issued license plates are not profane and do not promote dangerous hate speech or incite harm,” said RaeAnn Pickett, a spokeswoman for Jay Jones, the state’s attorney general.
Seemingly ignorant, or deliberately overlooking the implication that the govt by this rationale, has the responsibility of not promoting and inciting harm, which, clearly no govt entity I'm aware of operates with any concern about promoting hate and inciting harm/riots (see history of US Govt, and state govt, and police departments, operating with racism and prejudice against blacks and native Americans (2/3rds vote, slavery, police tactics in the March to Selma, pepper spray on nonviolent protesters during the past decade https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=pepper+spray etc etc ad nauseum )
