Mitchell v. Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration

In 2009, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) granted Petitioner’s application for vanity license plates bearing the word “MIERDA.” The MVA later rescinded the plates according to a State regulation authorizing the recall of vanity plates containing profanities or obscenities, as “mierda” translates into English as “shit.” The Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), the circuit court, and the Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the characters on a vanity license plate represent private speech in a nonpublic forum, which requires government speech restrictions thereof to be reasonable and viewpoint neutral; (2) Maryland’s regulation prohibiting profanities, epithets, or obscenities satisfies this standard; and (3) the MVA acted reasonably, viewpoint-neutrally, in accordance with the regulation, and based on substantial evidence in acting to recall Petitioner’s vanity plates. View "Mitchell v. Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration" on Justia Law