New Hampshire Court Says “COPSLIE” License Plate Is Free Speech (VIDEO)

The highest court in New Hampshire ruled that a vanity plate owned by David Montenegro that reads “COPSLIE” is protected free speech under the first amendment.

The unanimous decision found that the state violated the civil rights of the man who said that he got the plate in order to protest government corruption. The law in New Hampshire currently prohibits plates that, “a reasonable person would find offensive to good taste.” But the Civil Liberties Union in the state claims that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

“The restriction grants DMV officials the power to deny a proposed vanity registration plate because it offends particular officials’ subjective idea of what is ‘good taste,'” the court wrote.

Justice Carol Ann Conboy who wrote the court’s argument said, “What is good taste? That seems to be the nub of the argument.”

The state of New Hampshire argued that the DMV workers were right in denying the license plate because it disparages an entire class of people — police officers.

Of course, police officers aren’t really a “class” of people, and if they are they certainly aren’t a protected class. Mostly because this isn’t Nottingham and police aren’t the King’s Men. Shiny badges and blue costumes don’t grant extra rights. Police are the same as the rest of us, subject to the same laws and not protected from snark or satire.

Montenegro said he thought that cops who pull him over and have to type “COPSLIE” into their computers would amount to “the perfect situational irony.”