While there is a monument recognizing the soldiers of the Confederacy in front of the state capitol in Austin, Texas does not have a specialty plate with the Confederate battle flag. Since the proposed Sons of the Confederate Veterans plate was denied, it has brought the Confederate flag back into a First Amendment fight.
Texas argued that the flag can be considered offensive to some, but nine other states already have the Sons of Confederate Veterans plates. Those other states are Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina.
“A significant portion of the public associates the Confederate flag with organizations advocating expressions of hate directed toward people or groups that is demeaning to those people or groups,” the board for the Texas department of motor vehicles said in November 2011, when it unanimously turned down the proposed design.
After that decision, the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a First Amendment Challenge and won. And now the case is going to the Supreme Court and brought together some odd allies. The American Civil Liberties Union even admitted that the Confederate battle flag might be offensive, but it can’t support censorship. Even conservative satirist P.J. O’Rourke chimed in, against Texas.
“In a free society, offensive speech should not just be tolerated, its regular presence should be celebrated as a symbol of democratic health -- however odorous the products of a democracy may be,” O’Rouke, civil libertarian Nat Hentoff and others said in a brief, notes The Associated Press.
However, 11 states are supporting Texas as they fear that a ruling in favor of the Sons of Confederate Veterans might open the floodgates for other license plates that would promote controversial views.