In a departure from its steadfast defense of free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) were not entitled under the First Amendment to a Texas license plate that featured a Confederate battle flag. Judge Stephen Breyer argued that the license plate content was government rather than private speech. He wrote, “…just as Texas cannot require SCV to convey the State’s ideological message, SCV cannot force Texas to include a Confederate battle flag on its specialty license plates.” (CNN, June 18, 2015, by Ariane de Vogue)
Justice Clarence Thomas joined in the majority decision that rested partially on the Supreme Court decision in 2009 Pleasant Grove City v. Summum that held that a donated Ten Commandments monument in a public park was government speech. The government was free then to say what it liked. (The New York Times, June 18, 2015, by Adam Liptak)
In his dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the ruling damaged the First Amendment. He said that it could not be construed that the various messages on Texas license plates were government speech rather than private expression. The ruling he said could result in censorship of heretofore public forums such as the bulletin boards and listservs of state universities that sometimes carry official messages. (Politico, June 18, 2015, by Josh Gerstein)