BANNED BY THE DMV?

There's a potential roadblock in the path of every motorist who wants to vanitize: the department of motor vehicles officials who, legally, must approve all vanity plate messages. DMVs have a legitimate interest in preventing "offensive" vanitized messages, but who's to say what's "offensive"? One motorist's vanitized levity could, to another motorist, be sheer blasphemy. Even someone's actual name could offend: DICKBUSH would have a hard time getting his name on a vanity plate. Some motorists are so passionate about their vanity plates that they will sue DMVs to get or keep them. That's because vanity plates allow us to publicly say. the messages that we want to convey. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment's right to freedom of speech applies to license plates. Other courts have ruled that motorists have only a limited constitutional right to freedom of vanitized speech, however. Courts have upheld DMV bans of vanitized messages that are obscene, profane, sexually explicit, excretory-related, or derogatory to racial, ethnic or social groups. DMVs may also constitutionally ban vanitized messages that relate to alcohol or illegal drugs, or that encourage violence. Some DMVs ban HATE and H8 from vanity plates. But why shouldn't a motorist be allowed to vanitize and proclaim, H8 2WORK?