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.

The Attorney General’s first defeat occurred in January 2005, when a federal judge ruled that The Children First Foundation (CFF) had sufficiently argued that its First Amendment rights would be violated.

Spitzer appealed the federal court ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with CFF.

The three judge panel agreed with CFF's contention that Spitzer, who is pro-abortion, and state officials denied the Choose Life plate application "based on their disagreement with [the] life-affirming viewpoint expressed on the plate."

The court said the officials "engaged in viewpoint discrimination."

The state argued, in a written submission to the appeals court, that the Children First Foundation's plate was rejected in order “to avoid any appearance of governmental support for either side in the divisive national abortion debate.”

Spitzer's office came under fire last year when it claimed the Choose Life plates could lead to road rage.

# posted by Squach : 8:03 PM   |