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03/08/2006
New York 'Choose Life' License Plate Lawsuit is Victorious in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit NEW YORK, Mar. 8 -- In a stunning decision released on March 7th, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s second attempt to ban the phrase "Choose Life" from a pro-adoption specialty plate in New York State. The Attorney General’s first defeat occurred in January, 2005, when a federal judge ruled that The Children First Foundation (CFF) had sufficiently alleged constitutional violations involving freedom of speech and equal protection under the law. The August 2005 trial date was postponed when the state appealed the federal court ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel favorably ruled that CFF’s complaint "specifically alleges that defendants denied the picture-plate application ‘based on their disagreement with [the] life-affirming viewpoint expressed on the plate.’ On a motion to dismiss, we must accept this allegation, and all reasonable inferences drawn from it, as true." The appellate decision further states that "[e]ven if defendants are correct that the picture-plate program is a nonpublic forum (...) the complaint alleges that defendants engaged in viewpoint discrimination, and it is clearly established that, even in a nonpublic forum, restrictions on speech must be reasonable and viewpoint neutral." CFF’s Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, Jeff Shafer and Brian Raum, were particularly pleased that the decision did not grant qualified immunity to any of the defendants, including Governor George Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who are being sued for constitutional violations in both their individual and official capacities. "No one is above the law," explained Dr. Elizabeth Rex, President of The Children First Foundation. "This ruling is another great victory for freedom of speech and equal treatment under the law for all New Yorkers."
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