U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt on Tuesday upheld a decision by the Arizona License Plate Commission to deny an antiabortion group's application for the state to issue "Choose Life" license plates, the AP/Tucson Citizen reports (Davenport, AP/Tucson Citizen, 9/27). The Arizona Life Coalition in January 2002 applied to the commission for permission to produce the plates and the commission denied the request. ALC in September 2003 filed suit in federal district court against the commission, alleging that its refusal violated the group's rights to freedom of expression and due process and sought both authorization of the plates and an unspecified amount in damages. The state of Arizona in September 2003 filed a motion in U.S. District Court requesting dismissal of ALC's lawsuit. Rosenblatt in May 2004 dismissed ALC's claims under state law but allowed the group to argue the case in federal court (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 5/25/04). In making his ruling on Tuesday, Rosenblatt relied on a U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from 2002 that set up a four-part test to decide if specialty plates are speech by the government or by private entities (AP/Tucson Citizen, 9/27). A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court in March 2004 ruled that South Carolina's Choose Life license plates were unconstitutional because the state did not offer similar plates for abortion-rights supporters. The Supreme Court in January refused to consider the case (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/16).

Rationale, Reaction
Rosenblatt on Tuesday said, "Due to the necessity of vehicle identification by state authorities, speech on state-approved, state-issued license plates is governmental in nature and constitutes a nonpublic forum from which access is selective, rather than general." He added that the commission acted reasonably while trying "to avoid the appearance (of) political favoritism in an otherwise nonpublic forum and maintained state neutrality on the issue, giving neither side a leg up in this hotly debated public question." Supporters of the Choose Life plates said they plan to appeal Rosenblatt's ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Disagreement with the 'Choose Life' message is not a valid reason to deny a license plate request," Peter Gentala, a Center for Arizona Policy attorney who represents ALC, adding, "The license plate program was designed to help service organizations, not censor their speech" (AP/Tucson Citizen, 9/27).