Choose Life License Plate Appeal

Federal judges from the Sixth Circuit will hear an appeal tomorrow on the distribution of a Choose Life license plate in Tennessee.

Two years ago, Tennessee Right to Life got the state legislature to pass a bill authorizing production of a specialty license plate with the words, “Choose Life”. The Tennessee chapter of the ACLU sued and U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell stopped the plate from being produced.

Tennessee Right to Life appealed Campbell’s decision and both sides are making their case in front of a three-judge panel tomorrow.

At issue is whether the words “Choose Life” amount to political speech. ACLU’s Hedy Weinberg says yes.

“Once government decides, and that’s what we’re arguing, to allow the license plate tag to be used to promote a message, they cannot pick and choose which message that they will allow to be placed on that tag.”

The ACLU tried to get a “Pro-Choice” license plate, but legislators rejected their amendment, and Weinberg says that is viewpoint discrimination.

Brian Harris is president of Tennessee Right To Life. He does not believe that “Choose Life” is political speech.

“It is not a political position. The proceeds of the plate are designated in the statute to go to 45 non profit organizations with the singular goal of providing tangible resources to women and families at a very desperate point of need.”

Harris says if Tennessee Right to Life loses this appeal, it will ask for a second hearing with the all of the sixth circuit judges. The ACLU says it will wait for the court’s ruling before deciding its next step.

This will be the first time the sixth circuit court of appeals rules on a choose life license plate case. The fourth and fifth circuit courts weighed in on similar license plates – one court ruled the plate was unconstitutional, the other sent the case back to state court.