Anti-cop license plates are protected as free speech, 4th Circuit rules
A Virginia driver who argued that the government wrongly restricted his anti-government license plate won his case before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, on Friday. (Photo from Shutterstock)
A Virginia driver who argued that the government wrongly restricted his anti-government license plate won his case before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, on Friday.
Driver Curtis Whateley argued that the First Amendment protected his personalized license plate, “FTP&ATF,” an acronym for “F- - - the police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” after a lower court dismissed his challenge.
The lower court erred in finding that personalized plates are government speech, rather than private speech, protected by the First Amendment, the three-judge panel agreed.
4th Circuit Judge Pamela Harris wrote the 28-page opinion that rejected the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner’s claim that personalized license plate combinations are identifiers, making them government speech. The 4th Circuit is the first federal appeals court to address the issue.
Courthouse News Service has the story.
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