United States Eighth Circuit

In a free speech action involving specialty license plates, district court's judgment in favor of plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) the messages contained on the specialty license plates communicate private speech, not government speech; 2) Missouri's specialty plate program is unconstitutional, as the statute permits the State to engage in viewpoint discrimination by giving it unbridled discretion to determine what speech may go on the license plate based on the viewpoint of the speaker; 3) the disputed section is severable and thus the State can still issue specialty license plates; and 4) court did not abuse its discretion by entering a permanent injunction ordering the issuance of the "Choose Life" specialty plates.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/26/2009
• Published 03/26/2009

Judges

• GRUENDER, Circuit Judge., Before GRUENDER, BEAM and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Joel E. Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, argued (Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Joel Lee Oster, Leawood, KS, argued (Kevin Theriot and Benjamin W. Bull, Scottsdale, AZ, on the brief), for appellees., Andrew Schlafly, Far Hills, NJ (Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, Law Students Pro-Life at Washington University in St. Louis School Law, and Students for Life at Saint Louis University), Steven W. Fitschen, of Virginia Beach, VA (The National Legal Foundation) and Mailee R. Smith, and Denise M. Burke, of Chicago, IL (Life Choice Center for Women, et al.), for amici briefs in support of appellees.