Confederate License Plates A Court Issue

TALLAHASSEE,  - The Sons of Confederate Veterans is trying to get specialty license plates showing the Confederate flag in Kentucky and Florida.

Nine states -- Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia -- already have plates showing the Confederate flag, Foxnews.com reported.  All except Maryland were in the Confederacy.

John Adams, who heads the Sons in Florida, won a court ruling in March that found the state Legislature was discriminating against the group by denying his application. He is hopeful he will soon get his plate.

But state Rep. Geraldine Thompson, an Orlando Democrat and member of the black legislative caucus, said the judge only said the process has to be fair, not that every applicant gets the plate they want. She calls the plate a "symbol of slavery."

In Kentucky, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans is also trying to get a plate, members deny racism and say they just want to honor soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported.

Ben Sewell, a spokesman for the national group, said it has a good track record in court.

"We've prevailed each time because we are a bona fide, non-profit corporation, and it was found by the courts that they were trying to discriminate," he said.