<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/28bar.html?hp" title="The New York Times has a story on the nationwide increase in litigation involving so-called specialty license plates”>The New York Times has a story on the nationwide increase in litigation involving so-called specialty license plates – specifically those that express views on abortion – and how that may translate into the Supreme Court determining their legality.
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.
The “Choose Life” plates are available in 19 states, including Montana. And, according to the Times, Montana is also one of just two states to offer plates “sympathetic to abortion rights.”
Several states, however, have refused to issue plates that express any views on abortion, arguing that they convey government, not private, speech. Many appeals courts have disagreed with that stance.
No one knows for sure if the Supreme Court will take on the issue of specialty plates. But the Times’ Adam Liptak writes: “The next great First Amendment battleground, it turns out, is on the back of your car.”