Specialty Maryland license plates depicting the Confederate flag could be recalled this fall under a federal judge’s order.
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In September, the Virginia DMV sent out 1600 new plates, asking owners of Confederate-flag plates to turn in their old license plates within 30 days.
Frosh told The Washington Post: ‘I look forward to the day when these plates are not longer on the road.
The state was stymied in its attempts to pull the Sons of Confederate Veterans plates in the 1990s when the U.S. District Court ruled the tags were protected as free speech under the First Amendment. Others see it as an homage to the Jim Crow era after the war when blacks were subjugated and Southern state legislatures inserted the symbol in state flags to show their defiance in wake of civil-rights advances for African Americans. “It has no place in any contemporary government use”, Frosh said in a statement. His order is effective November. 17.
The bans follow a June US Supreme Court ruling that Confederate-flag plates are a form of government speech, and as a result can be rejected by states that choose to do so.
The DMV said it attempted to work with the Sons of Confederate Veterans on the design of the new plate, but the organization did not respond.
Frosh along with Governor Larry Hogan, requested that the injunction in Maryland be lifted.
He received a letter last month telling him he had until October 4 to swap out his Confederate flag license plate with a new one without the flag, provided by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) signed a bill in July to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. A week after the bill signing, the flag was taken down.
