Vermont Policy On Religious Vanity Plates Upheld Again

A Vermont federal Magistrate Judge has concluded that a challenge to the state Department of Motor Vehicles policy on vanity licence plates should be rejected. The policy prohibits the issuance of plates displaying religious references. Today's Rutland (VT) Herald says that the magistrate's report concluded that "The DMV has the right to prohibit religious messages on license plates provided it does not discriminate based on the particular message or viewpoint." Shawn Byrne, who applied for plates with the number "JN36TN" (referring to the biblical verse John 3:16), already lost his attempt to obtain a preliminary injunction when he first filed the case in 2005. (See prior posting.) Attorneys have until Aug. 27 to file objections to the recent Magistrate's report. Lawyer Jeremy Tedesco said Byrne will continue to press his claim that the state's policy amounts to unconstitutional discrimination against religious viewpoints.