State’s ‘choose life’ license plate declared unconstitutional
December 11, 2012
A US district court judge has declared that the North Carolina legislature’s decision to issue “choose life” license plates is unconstitutional. Motorists would have been permitted to purchase the plate for an extra $25.
“The State’s offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment,” ruled 84-year-old Judge James C. Fox, a Reagan appointee.
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Further information:
- Federal judge: State can't offer only 'Choose Life' license plates (Raleigh News & Observer)
- Judge: NC Choose Life Plates Invalid Because No Pro-Abortion Version (LifeNews.com)
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Posted by: filioque -
Dec. 13, 2012 2:04 AM ET USA
In Maryland you can get a plate saying "Save the Bay" (the Chesapeake). Should they provide a plate with "Kill the Bay"? New Hampshire famously has plates with its state motto: "Live Free or Die!" What would the good judge require as an alternative viewpoint?
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Dec. 11, 2012 7:10 PM ET USA
The opposite licence plate would logically have to read "choose death."
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Posted by: unum -
Dec. 11, 2012 5:50 PM ET USA
I carefully read my copy of the Constitution and could find no reference to "viewpoint discrimination" in the First Amendment or anywhere else. It appears that we have yet another aging federal judge who has been imagining his own version of the Constitution.
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Posted by: Defender -
Dec. 11, 2012 4:52 PM ET USA
Notice we don't elect Federal judges, good thing for them. Applying this guy's logic, for every judge who went to law school, we should have one who didn't. Wonder which one would have more common sense? What if this were applied to politicians????
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Dec. 11, 2012 10:59 AM ET USA
Viewpoint discrimination? I suppose now we will need new signs on school grounds. Just underneath the "drug free zone" sign we will need a "use more illegal drugs" sign. Underneath the "stop crime" billboard we will need a "promote crime" billboard. Under the "support the church of your choice" billboard we will need a "burn the church of your choice" sign. Without God, there can be no reference point for an absolute morality. All that remains, then, is the arbitrariness of "the law."
