John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight – The Department of Revenue’s Motor Vehicle Division will no longer serve as an arbiter of good taste and decency in its review of personalized license plates, according to a settlement agreement filed with the U.S. District Court of South Dakota.
The consent decree and stipulation document saying as much was filed late last week in a lawsuit against the division by business owner Lyndon Hart and the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota.
Hart is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the owner of a business in Flandreau called “Rez Weed Indeed.” He was denied a personalized plate reading “REZWEED” in May 2022, but the division reversed itself in September of that year.
Hart sued last month anyway, noting that the division maintained the right to recall previously issued plates based on “connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”
The consent decree, signed by Hart and the state on Friday, still needs approval from U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange. Once it’s signed, the division will repeal the “good taste and decency” language within seven days. The document acknowledges that denying plates based on a subjective “good taste and decency” standard is unconstitutional.
The document explicitly notes that Hart’s plate will not be recalled, and that he is entitled to keep and renew two other vanity plates, “REZSMOK” and “REZBUD,” without fear of a recall.
It also says that anyone denied a vanity plate under the “good taste and decency” standard may now reapply for a plate, and that any updates to division policy on plates will be “narrowly tailored and viewpoint neutral to advance the State’s significant interests consistent with the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.”
The settlement was filed about a month after Hart asked for a preliminary injunction that aimed to stop the state from enforcing its “good taste” standards while the case was pending.
The injunction documents note that the state’s vanity plate denials have been inconsistently applied. “BEERMOM” was denied, the motion says, but “BEERMAN” was approved.
Hart also noted an apparent pro-Christian bias in the division’s decision-making.
“Defendants regularly approved personalized plates that conveyed a message in support of God or Jesus—1GOD, 1TRUGOD, LIV$GOD, LUV4GOD, GODBLSS, JESUS, JESUS4U—but regularly denied plates that reference the Devil or Satan—SATAN, S8N, SIX66, TRIPL6, 666DOA, and DEV1L,” the motion says.
The document also points out that a previous division director named Deb Hillmer had urged the Legislature to repeal the “good taste” standard in 2008 over its constitutional problems. Hillmer was backed by Dan Mosteller, the former superintendent of the Highway Patrol.
Stephanie Amiotte, ACLU of South Dakota legal director, issued a statement Monday celebrating the ruling as a victory for free speech.
“While it’s tempting for some to classify this as an insignificant issue, this is about so much more than just a license plate,” the statement reads. “It’s about our First Amendment rights and we won’t allow the state to chip away our constitutional rights like this one piece at a time. We’re very happy we were able to obtain a complete victory for Mr. Hart and for the freedom of speech of all South Dakotans.”
The Division of Motor Vehicles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear from the language of the settlement if the takedown of the “good taste and decency” standard leaves any room for the denial of plates. ACLU spokesperson Janna Farley says the organization can’t comment on hypotheticals, such as the possibility of plates with profanity.