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Texas can bar the Confederate battle flag from appearing on a specialty license plate, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
State officials rejected the plate, proposed by the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, twice in the past six years — the last time after a tense 2011 public hearing before the state Department of Motor Vehicles governing board in which civil rights leaders decried the flag as a racist relic that represents bigotry and repression.
The board rejected the plate because it found that many people associate the flag with groups advocating hate toward some people or groups.
The Confederate heritage group filed suit, insisting its proposed plate was designed to honor fallen soldiers, not slavery.
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court determined that license plate design falls under government speech. Government are not bound by the First Amendment's free speech clause when it comes to limiting the content of its own speech, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas joined liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in the majority.
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