Judge Rules in Favor of Confederate Tags

A federal judge in Roanoke ordered the state to issue specialty license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The ruling comes after nearly two years of legal wrangling over whether the state can deny a group’s request for specialty tags based on the group’s viewpoint. U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser said the state’s refusal to issue the tag violated the group’s right to free speech. “They singled out this group based on viewpoint, and that flies on the face of the 1st Amendment,” said Art Strickland, an attorney for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.