Friday, March 03, 2023

Objectors To Religious Motto on License Plates May Cover the Motto

In Griggs v. Graham, (SD MS, March 2, 2023), plaintiffs objected to the design of the default Mississippi license plates that included the state seal, a part of which was the motto "In God We Trust."  Specialty plates that carry alternative designs are more expensive, and are not available at all for trailers, RVs and motorcycles. The court, relying on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1977 decision in Wooley v. Maynard, refused to require the state to issue separate non-religious license plates, saying in part:

[A]s in Wooley, the Plaintiffs have articulated a violation of their First Amendment free speech rights. They cannot be compelled to display “In God We Trust” on their license plate. 

In Wooley, however, the Supreme Court did not require New Hampshire to create a blank license plate for persons who objected to “Live Free or Die.” No, the remedy in that case was an injunction blocking New Hampshire “from arresting and prosecuting [the Wooleys] at any time in the future for covering over [the objectionable] portion of their license plates... [T]he Supreme Court put the burden of compliance on the objectors—they were allowed to cover up the message—and then enjoined the state criminal law that penalized that action....

In Count II of their Amended Complaint, the Plaintiffs allege that the State has breached its duty of neutrality by elevating persons who believe in God while simultaneously “demonstrat[ing] . . . hostility toward the Plaintiffs and other Mississippi car owners who lack religious beliefs.”...

The Plaintiffs no doubt believe that more recent free exercise cases promise them greater rights to neutrality than this single 1977 case....  [I]f their desire is to overturn Wooley, they will have to seek that relief from a higher court.