The exterior of the New Hampshire Supreme Court building in Concord, N.H. is seen in this undated photo.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The denial of a New Hampshire man’s request for a vanity license plate reading “copslie” was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
David Montenegro, 35, who has legally changed his name to “human,” won his case in a decision handed down on Wednesday, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Human applied multiple times in 2010 for the “copslie” license plate, but the DMV rejected the request saying that some would find the text “insulting.” He later applied for other choices, including “GR8GOVT” and “LUVGOVT” and was given the plate abbreviation for great government.
Human argued before the court that he wanted the plate to protest state government corruption and that the license plate is an expression of political speech that is protected.
The court ruled that the state regulation prohibiting vanity license plates that are “offensive to good taste” authorizes and encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
