(I rarely print entire articles from AP but due to the history of these interrelated cases, I felt any edit would be detrimental to the discussion.)

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High Court Declines Anti-Abortion Tag Case

By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from abortion rights groups wanting to block states from issuing car license plates bearing the message "Choose Life."

About a dozen states allow drivers to pay extra for the specialty car tags to show the car owner's opposition to abortion.

Justices said they would not look at tag laws in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Abortion opponents contend they have a free-speech right to broadcast their own views on their car tags. Proposals to offer car owners an alternative "Choose Choice" plate failed in both state Legislatures.

A federal judge ruled that Louisiana's system for issuing specialty plates is unconstitutional because the Legislature decides who gets the tags and the money.

That decision was overturned by a federal appeals court panel, which found that the challenge amounts to a tax dispute that belongs in state court. And by an 8-8 vote, the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider the case.

A federal judge had found that Tennessee's tag wrongly promoted only one side of the abortion debate, but the decision was overturned by an appeals court.

Justices have refused in the past to deal with similar disputes. Last year, the high court let stand a lower court ruling that said South Carolina's license plates, which bear the slogan "Choose Life," violate the First Amendment because abortion rights supporters weren't given a similar forum to express their beliefs.

The cases are Keeler v. Stalder, 05-1222, New Life Resources v. American Civil Liberties Union, 05-1483, and American Civil Liberties Union v. Bredesen, 05-1389.

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On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

Choose Life: http://www.choose-life.org/

Center for Reproductive Law and Policy: http://www.crlp.org/

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Okay, so if we just allow plates with either CHOOSE LIFE or CHOOSE DEATH then who can possibly object?

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

I know I often get my position on an issue from a license plate.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

Suspicions confirmed.

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

My vote for President is usually the name on the last sticker I saw.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I don't see any reason not to allow this.

What in the hell does this really mean anyway?

"Choose...Choice?"

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LET ME SEE YOUR WAR FACE!!!

Dale Earnhart wasn't runing that election.

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

Would the Protectors of Righteous Justice permit a "F*ck God" licence-plate?

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

I wrote in for the Confederate Flag. It was on the pick up in the parking space next to mine.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

My personal plate says, "As* Man."

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

How ironic is it that people who go by "pro-choice" are against people choosing a bumper sticker?
People need to think before speaking. Especially if they're considered to be on my side of the spectrum. When are we liberals finally going to laugh off the pro-censorship leftists?

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III