Texas’ ISU license plate mentioned in Supreme Court case

(No, not that one. Or that one, either.)

In a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Texas has the right to deny Sons of Confederate Veterans a specialty license plate, Justice Samuel Alito dissented by way of a sports analogy:

If you did your viewing at the start of the college football season and you saw Texas plates with the names of the University of Texas’s out-of-state competitors in upcoming games — Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, the University of Oklahoma, Kansas State, Iowa State — would you assume that the State of Texas was officially (and perhaps treasonously) rooting for the Longhorns’ opponents? [dissent p.2]

(Look at the company we’re keeping!)

…And if Texas really wants to speak out in support of, say, Iowa State University (but not the University of Iowa) or “Young Lawyers” (but not old ones), why must it be paid to say things that it really wants to say? [dissent p.14]

If there’s a Dallas-Fort Worth I-Club, there’s your cue.

Alito must have had an up-to-date list, because it was only about 15 months ago that the Texas DMV approved the ISU design in the first place.

[h/t Ann Althouse, who did all the heavy lifting here]

This entry was posted in License Plates. Bookmark the permalink.