Confederate Licence Plate Bans Constitutional, Supreme Court Rules

Texas did not violate the Constitution when the state prohibited licence plates containing images of the Confederate Flag according to today's Supreme Court ruling.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued the following statement regarding today’s Supreme Court victory in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.:

“Free speech is a fundamental right to which all Americans are entitled, and today’s ruling upholds Texas’s specialty license plate program and confirms that citizens cannot compel the government to speak, just as the government cannot compel citizens to speak. There remains many other ways for motorists to express their views on their vehicles.”

This was the first opinion issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case argued by Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller, who was appointed to the position by Attorney General Ken Paxton in January. Most recently, Keller served as U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s chief counsel. Before joining the Senator’s staff, Keller was an attorney at Yetter Coleman LLP in Austin. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, was a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Solicitor General, and clerked for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.