Vanity plate with religious reference fails again
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By Alan J. Keays Rutland Herald - Published: August 15, 2007
A West Rutland man lost another round in his legal battle for a vanity license plate with a biblical message as a federal jurist said the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles does not discriminate against God.
Federal Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier issued a recent "report and recommendation" stating that the state DMV properly implemented its policy regarding a prohibition of references to deities on state-issued vanity license plates by rejecting a request for "JN36TN."
"The DMV has the right to prohibit religious messages on license plates provided it does not discriminate based on the particular message or viewpoint," Niedermeier wrote in a 23-page filing in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Shawn Byrne has been fighting for the vanity license plate "JN36TN," which he stated on his application was a reference to the biblical passage, John 3:16.
The scripture passage reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Attorneys for Byrne and the state DMV have until Aug. 27 to file any written objections to the federal magistrate judge's report. It will then be up to a U.S. District Court judge to review the case and decide whether to adopt the magistrate judge's recommendations
Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer representing Byrne, said Tuesday that the legal battle continues, and he intends to file an objection to the magistrate judge's report and recommendation.
"When the state opens up vanity plates to wide-open expression on virtually any subject matter, including what people personally believe as their philosophy and belief system, they can't prohibit Christians or religious people from expressing their point of view on that same subject matter," he said.
"That's the whole point of this case. The DMV has this wide-open forum for speech and then kicks religious speech to the curb. They can't do that under First Amendment precedent."
Tedesco works for the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, an organization that describes itself as a defender of religious liberty.
Tedesco said that among the vanity plates that the state has issued are "4PEACE," "GOSOLAR" "REBEL" "ALL4LUV," "VEGAN" and "BEHAPPY."
"It is a virtually limitless forum," Tedesco said. "The reality is you can't tell religious people they can't participate in a forum that is that wide open."
Assistant Attorney General Bridget Asay, representing the state DMV, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
Attorneys for Byrne have contended that the state DMV denial of his requested vanity plate violates his First Amendment freedom of expression. State DMV attorneys counter that allowing the plate could lead some who see it to view it as state endorsement of a particular religious viewpoint.
Vermont regulations state license plates are not allowed to have a combination of letters or numbers that refer to any language, race, religion, color, deity, gender, sexual orientation, disability status or political affiliation.
In August 2005 Niedermeier issued a "report and recommendation" denying Byrne's request for an injunction against the state DMV to allow him to get his requested vanity license plate.
However, he allowed the case to go forward to determine if the state DMV was fairly implementing its policies regarding vanity license plates. Federal Judge J. Garvan Murtha later adopted Niedermeier's recommendation.
That led to a filings from both sides over whether the state DMV has allowed other vanity messages with religious references. A hearing in the case was held in March in federal court in Burlington.
"The state DMV has endeavored, though not perfectly, to restrict all references to any religion or deity from Vermont vanity plates. Such a practice is content-restrictive, not viewpoint-discriminatory," Niedermeier wrote in his recent report and recommendation. "There is no evidence that his application was denied based on a bias against his viewpoint, Christianity or the Bible; but rather, because it was a reference to religion."
Niedermeier also wrote that the state DMV has not singled out Byrne based on his religious belief and properly applied the statute prohibiting religious statements on state vanity plates.
"Since May 2004, the DMV has rejected plates referring to the Bible, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Wicca," the magistrate judge wrote.
Byrne sued the DMV in federal court in January 2005 after the agency rejected three of his requests for a vanity license plate. He wanted to place the plate on his restored 1966 Ford pickup.
The state contended, and Byrne's lawyers conceded, that his requests, "JOHN316" and "JN316," would have violated a DMV rule against vanity plates with more than two numerals. The rule is intended to avoid confusion with standard-issue license plates.
However, the state also rejected Byrne's third vanity license plate choice, "JN36TN," arguing that it contained a religious reference. In his state application for each of the plates, Byrne said his request represented a "Bible passage."
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
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