Posted on 05/01/2002 2:59:46 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - A federal court in Virginia has ruled that a group known as the Sons of Confederate Veterans has the right to join other special interest groups in issuing privatized license plates in the state containing the Confederate flag logo. But another group is urging the Virginia state government to appeal the decision.
In its unanimous verdict, issued Monday, a three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. said efforts to restrict the use of the logo are "an instance of viewpoint discrimination."
The Rutherford Institute, a non-profit civil liberties group, defended the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in court. "This is a victory not just for the thousands of members of the SCV but for everyone who has used their license plates as a means of personal expression," John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, said.
In 1999, the Virginia General Assembly approved a specialty license plate for the group but censored the use of the Confederate flag.
Whitehead told CNSNews.com a lower court ruled in favor of the SCV and its right to display the Confederate flag on its privatized license plates in the state of Virginia. But the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (VDMV) appealed the case to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
"The court of appeals has issued a ringing affirmation of the free speech principles that license plates are personal expression and that government officials cannot censor that expression just because it's unpopular," Whitehead said.
Edwin Deason, national commander in chief of the SCV, said it was reassuring to see that the group was being afforded its constitutional right to freedom of expression.
Deason said many states have been involved in similar lawsuits. Residents in the states of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama currently have the right to display the SCV logo, including the Confederate battle flag on license plates.
Efforts are also underway in Tennessee and West Virginia to approve the use of similar privatized license plate, Deason said.
Whitehead said more than a thousand people were on the waiting list to obtain SCV license plates in Virginia. "What [the decision] says is that free speech is still alive. The court here has confirmed that you cannot discriminate upon the basis of what someone has to say once the government has opened a forum."
Deason also denied that the reason for including the battle flag on the license plate had anything to do with racism. "First of all, it is the Saint Andrew's cross that makes up a big portion of our logo, and around that is 'Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896.' So, there is nothing racist about it whatsoever. The Saint Andrew's cross, I always thought, was a good thing," he said.
Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), disagreed. "It is offensive to a significant number of the populous because of what it stands for; particular to people of African descent is terrorism, intimidation, harassment and even murder when it is used by those kinds of hate groups," Khalfani said.
He added that the Virginia NAACP is urging the attorney general and governor to continue the appeal process. "We have taken a position against the symbol being on the license plate, and the state needs to be able to control what goes on its license plates. It needs to get out of the business of issuing [private plates]," Khalfani said.
"No other group has suffered like those of African descendants here. Over 100 million lives were lost in our enslavement, so any group that was supporting slavery and wants to continue to parade that in our face, we are going to be opposed to when it comes into the public sector," Khalfani said.
E-mail a news tip to Matt Pyeatt.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
I like what this man is doing for America and the Southern cause. I hear him on the local radio station with his legal minute update.
If it upsets you that much, Mr. Khalfani, please move back to your roots.
They will use the exact same reasons the Confederate plate advocates make.
I kind of put them both in the same camp.
Logo and the LawIf the state doesn’t drop its opposition to a Confederate flag decal on license plates, state cars should bear a jackass on their license plates to indicate the silliness of the commonwealth.
The three-judge federal panel ruled this week that Virginia must allow a Confederate heritage group to display its flag logo on specialty license plates.
Members of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower judge’s ruling that rejected the state’s case that the license tags amounted to public speech and could be regulated.
"The purpose of the special plate program primarily is to produce revenue while allowing … for the private expression of various views," the judicial panel ruled.
The state never had a constitutional leg to stand on which means, in most federal appeals circuits, it would lose. The real reason the state objected is the Confederate flag logo is not politically correct. The Confederacy lost the war and now is losing the public relations battle. However, thank goodness, the Constitution remains.
The state only pursued the case because some legislators argued that the flag represents bigotry. This isn’t true, but the legislators just didn’t like the Confederate flag and didn’t want anyone to display it.
However, the Constitution overrules feelings and emotions. Nobody has to have a Confederate specialty plate. The descendants of Confederate veterans are certainly allowed under the law to honor their heritage and their forefathers.
That the state pursued this case is another demonstration of how often politics undercuts common sense and costs taxpayers’ money.
That's the Freedom From Speech, right?
Well, if somebody wants that sand-simian's picture on their car, I guess they have the right.
They will use the exact same reasons the Confederate plate advocates make.
I kind of put them both in the same camp.
You figure there's no difference between them, eh?
I don't believe that our armed forces are over there trying to make UBL stay in the union.
If anyone wants to know why the GOP is called "the stupid party" they only have to watch Virginia politics for a year or so.
Why? I would love to see you explain that statement.
the numbers they DON'T want to talk about are the 100,000 or so BLACKS who fought bravely for the TRUE CAUSE of southron LIBERTY. OR the LARGE number of blacks, who bought slaves as soon as they were freed!
for dixie,sw
for dixie LIBERTY,sw
The picture on pages 328 and 329 illustrative of the atrocities committed by the rebels upon Union troops, white and black, is of particular interest at this time. The scenes presented represent only a few of the sad facts which rebel inhumanity has forced into the history of the time, but they are significant types of the whole, while the design of the central scene most happily presents the origin of the black flag policy and the persons responsible for its adoption. All these butcheries are the result of the proclamation of Jefferson Davis, issued December 23, 1862, in which he declared, "That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the Executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States. That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy." Under this proclamation the rebels proceeded to act at the first opportunity. At Galveston, January 1, 1863, part of a Massachusetts regiment was captured, and the rebels took two negroes, free-born citizens of Massachusetts, residents of Norfolk county in that State, and sold them into Slavery. Near the end of that month, twenty teamsters driving a wagon train of General Rosecrans's were captured near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, tied to the trees by the road-side, and shot.
In May, two negroes in the service and uniform of the United States were captured on picket at Port Hudson and forthwith hanged. On the 27th of May, the first assault on Port Hudson was delivered, and many of the negro troops fighting with great courage were wounded and fell into rebel hands. Of these, some were murdered on the spot in the sight of their comrades. On the 6th of June there was an engagement at Milliken's Bend between about 200 negro troops and an overpowering force of rebels. A large number of the negroes were murdered on the field after they had surrendered. Some of them were shot. Some were put to death by the bayonet. Some were crucified and burned. Of those whom this last fate befell, several were white officers in command of the negro troops. And so at all points the work of butchery went on, culminating finally in the wholesale massacre at Fort Pillow, which is still fresh in the public recollection. The incident presented in one of our sketches -- General Forest murdering the servant of a Union officer -- occurred about two years since, and is thus stated by Major-General Stanley:
About the middle of the summer of 1862, Forrest surprised the post of Murfreesboro, commanded by Brigadier-General T. T. Crittenden, of Indiana. The garrison was composed mostly of the Ninth Michigan and Second Minnesota Infantry and the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry. After some little fighting the troops were surrendered. A mulatto man, who was a servant of one of the officers of the Union forces, was brought to Forrest on horseback. The latter inquired of him, with many oaths, "what he was doing there?" The mulatto answered that he was a free man, and came out as a servant to an officer -- naming the officer. Forrest, who was on horseback, deliberately put his hand to his holster, drew his pistol, and blew the man's brains out. The rebel officer stated that the mulatto man came from Pennsylvania, and the same officer denounced the act as one of cold-blooded murder, and declared he would never again serve under Forrest.
http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/7Illustrations/CivilWar/RebelAtrocities.htm
Just a little perspective.
Walt
NOW to win our flag fight @ Point Lookout Death Camp, so we can fly our flag EVERY DAY over the graves of the victims of DAMNYANKEE TERRORISM!
for dixie,sw
for dixie,sw
for a free dixie,sw
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