Truth in advertising.
http://news.yahoo.com/hampshire-court-allows-copslie-license-plate-162256120.html;_ylt=AwrTWf16Y2pTwQsAGZjQtDMD
By Scott Malone
BOSTON
(Reuters) - A New Hampshire man has the right to drive around the New
England state with a license plate reading "COPSLIE," the state's top
court ruled on Wednesday.
The
state Supreme Court upheld a challenge to Department of Motor Vehicles'
rules, finding they were unconstitutionally broad by allowing officials
to deny requests for vanity license plates that "a reasonable person
would find offensive to good taste."
The man, who in 2012 legally changed his name to "human" from David
Montenegro, requested the plate in 2010 and sued the state when it
denied his request, instead offering a place with his second choice,
"GR8GOVT."
The court ruled
that rules based on standards of taste were too broad and therefore
likely to be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory fashion.
"We question whether prohibition of accusations of moral turpitude
would constitute 'viewpoint-neutral' regulation," three justices wrote
in a decision sending the matter back to a lower court in the state,
whose motto is "Live Free or Die."
The state attorney general's office had defended the DMV in this case,
arguing that the main purpose of license plates was to help identify
vehicles, not to serve as a platform for political expression.
State officials could not be reached for immediate comment on Wednesday.
"This opinion today is about keeping the government honest and fair
when it regulates speech," said Anthony Galdieri, an attorney with Nixon
Peabody who represented the man.
Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for the New Hampshire Civil
Liberties Union, which also backed the case, called the decision an
important protection of political speech.
"This message is one that's inherently political and one of the most
fundamental doctrines in understanding free-speech cases is that we
respect and appreciate political speech," Bissonnette said.
"Unfortunately, what took place here is that the DMV regulation, which
is incapable of any objective interpretation, was used to discriminate
against human because of his speech."
(Reporting by Scott Malone and G Crosse)
