Fifth U.S. Circuit Court Clears Path for Louisiana to Sell Anti-Abortion License Plates

The Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals split 8-8 on whether to reconsider an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that held the state can sell the license plates. Nine votes were needed to schedule a rehearing. The decision, dated this past Wednesday, places the 5th Circuit at odds with the Virginia-based 4th Circuit, which ruled in 2004 that South Carolina's "Choose Life" plates violated the First Amendment because they failed to give abortion rights supporters a similar forum to express their beliefs.  Source:  AP, KATC-TV News, katc.com. For more information, please click here (last visited December 24, 2005, reo).