[Hac-announce] Ruling in South Carolina "I Believe" license plate case

[Dan Blinn]

A federal court has ruled that South Carolina cannot issue a specialty license plate saying "I Believe" with a background of a cross superimposed on a stained glass window.   The decision begins: "This case presents a textbook example of the need for and continued vitality of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment."  The judge also noted: "Whether motivated by sincerely held Christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same. The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of its implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary (and expensive) litigation."  

Interestingly, the court distinguished this plate from another plate available in South Carolina that reads "In Reason We Trust" That plate became available as a result of the sponsorship of Secular Humanists of the Low Country, which went through a program administered by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.  South Carolina has over 100 specialty plates, about half of them sponsored by organizations such as the humanist group.  The court concluded that the "I Believe" license plate was different, because it came about through legislation and therefore constituted government action to a greater extent than the "In Reason We Trust" plate.

This is a final decision of the court, but it is subject to appeal to a United States Court of Appeals.  Below is a link to the American's United release on the decision.  Many of you will find the court's discussion of the conduct of NC state officials, particularly the Lt. Gov. and the Attorney General, to be quite interesting. 

http://www.scd.uscourts.gov/DOCS/i.believe.order2.pdf


Dan Blinn