The Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a lawsuit two years ago after the Legislature and the DMV didn't approve a plate that features Confederate flags and coats worn by Florida Confederate soldiers.
Tampa, Florida - Florida's Sons of Confederate Veterans Commander Douglas Dawson says he is elated with a judge's ruling on the group's effort to create a specialty license plate featuring the Confederate flag.
The plate includes the Confederate flag and coats worn by Confederate soldiers from Florida.
A federal judge ruled a section of state law limited the First Amendment rights of the Sons of Confederate Veterans when they applied for the specialty plate several years ago.
The group sued the state after it was unable to get the plate, even after collecting the required amount of signatures and raising enough money to pay the $60,000 application fee.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which oversees 120 specialty license plates, says the judge's ruling does not direct the agency to take any action.
David Westberry of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said, "There does not appear to be any impact on the department in respect to a specific directive to move forward and take any type of action, not does it compromise any of the department's current specialty license plates that we offer to the public and there's 120 of those currently available and they will remain available to the public."
Dawson is not disclosing the next step for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He says, "No general will give you his battle plan," but he adds, the group has "considerable options."
The group will need to get a state lawmaker to sponsor a bill for the license plate.
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