Changes

:Plaintiffs' most intuitively inviting argument-that the government must be viewpoint neutral when it relies on like-minded volunteers to disseminate its message-cannot in the end invalidate the Act. Plaintiffs point to the following facts to support this aspect of their argument: (a) the government must receive one thousand advance customer orders for the "Choose Life" plate or Tennessee will not manufacture it; (b) the "Choose Life" message is communicated by private citizens' affirmatively purchasing the plates and attaching them to their privately-owned vehicles; (c) the Tennessee government devotes no funds to disseminating the "Choose Life" message, but rather raises money by selling these plates to customers who wish to have "Choose Life" plates on their cars. While it is true that such voluntary dissemination itself qualifies as expressive conduct, the government's reliance on private volunteers to express its policies does not create a "forum" for speech requiring viewpoint neutrality.

:Plaintiffs' most intuitively inviting argument-that the government must be viewpoint neutral when it relies on like-minded volunteers to disseminate its message-cannot in the end invalidate the Act. Plaintiffs point to the following facts to support this aspect of their argument: (a) the government must receive one thousand advance customer orders for the "Choose Life" plate or Tennessee will not manufacture it; (b) the "Choose Life" message is communicated by private citizens' affirmatively purchasing the plates and attaching them to their privately-owned vehicles; (c) the Tennessee government devotes no funds to disseminating the "Choose Life" message, but rather raises money by selling these plates to customers who wish to have "Choose Life" plates on their cars. While it is true that such voluntary dissemination itself qualifies as expressive conduct, the government's reliance on private volunteers to express its policies does not create a "forum" for speech requiring viewpoint neutrality.

:This conclusion is supported by negative inference from the one Supreme Court case dealing with license plate speech. In Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 97 S. Ct. 1428, 51 L. Ed. 2d 752 (1977), New Hampshire embossed its state motto, "Live Free or Die," on standard-issue license plates in the same way that Tennessee would stamp "Choose Life" on specialty plates. See id. at 707. The Wooley Court characterized "Live Free or Die" as "the State's ideological message," id. at 715, and the State's "official view," id. at 717. The Supreme Court held that New Hampshire could not constitutionally prosecute vehicle owners for covering up the motto on their license plates, because by doing so the State would be unconstitutionally forcing automobile owners to adhere to an ideological point of view they disagreed with. Nowhere did the Court suggest that the State's message could not be so disseminated by those who did not object to the State's motto, or even hint that the State could not put the message on state-issued license plates. "Choose Life" is Tennessee's public message, just as "Live Free or Die" communicated New Hampshire's individualist values and state pride. The evil in Wooley was that the automobile owners were compelled to disseminate the message; here automobile owners are not only not compelled, they have to pay extra to disseminate the message.

:This conclusion is supported by negative inference from the one Supreme Court case dealing with license plate speech. In [[Wooley v. Maynard]], 430 U.S. 705, 97 S. Ct. 1428, 51 L. Ed. 2d 752 (1977), New Hampshire embossed its state motto, "Live Free or Die," on standard-issue license plates in the same way that Tennessee would stamp "Choose Life" on specialty plates. See id. at 707. The Wooley Court characterized "Live Free or Die" as "the State's ideological message," id. at 715, and the State's "official view," id. at 717. The Supreme Court held that New Hampshire could not constitutionally prosecute vehicle owners for covering up the motto on their license plates, because by doing so the State would be unconstitutionally forcing automobile owners to adhere to an ideological point of view they disagreed with. Nowhere did the Court suggest that the State's message could not be so disseminated by those who did not object to the State's motto, or even hint that the State could not put the message on state-issued license plates. "Choose Life" is Tennessee's public message, just as "Live Free or Die" communicated New Hampshire's individualist values and state pride. The evil in Wooley was that the automobile owners were compelled to disseminate the message; here automobile owners are not only not compelled, they have to pay extra to disseminate the message.

The Court held that a forum was not created by the issuance of these license plates:

The Court held that a forum was not created by the issuance of these license plates: