"Offensive To Decency": Supreme Court Won't Hear Free Speech Case Over Vanity Plate
"Offensive To Decency": Supreme Court Won't Hear Free Speech Case Over Vanity Plate
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned away a Tennessee woman’s appeal of her state rejecting a personalized license plate for her car.
The court rejected the petition in Gilliam v. Gerregano on Dec. 8 in an unsigned .pdf
without comment. No justices dissented.
The petitioner, Leah Gilliam, is “an avid video gamer and an astronomy buff,” according to her .pdf
filed with the Supreme Court.
In 2010, she applied to the state for a custom plate “69PWNDU,” a phrase that is “understandable to people who share her interests.”
Gilliam says the “69” refers to the 1969 moon landing and “PWND” is a video gamers’ expression that means to be dominated or defeated.
The Tennessee Department of Revenue approved the application and issued the plate, which she mounted on her car for 11 years, during which the department did not receive any complaints about it, the petition said.
After the department’s chief of staff received a complaint in 2021, the agency canceled the personalized plate, asserting it violated state law because it was “offensive to good taste and decency.”
Gilliam sued, arguing that the state law was inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment because it empowered the government department to engage in viewpoint-based discrimination, the petition said.
The Tennessee Chancery Court ruled for the state, finding that the custom plate constituted government speech, not private speech, so the First Amendment does not prevent the state from discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. The Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the plate was private speech. The court said that most courts have ruled that personalized plates are private speech, the petition said.
The appeals court said vehicle owners use custom plates to express their own messages, that the public sees vehicle owners as the ones speaking, and that even though state employees screen the plates, the process is not involved enough to make the messages on the plates government speech.
The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed, finding that the public sees custom plates as government speech. It also held that alphanumeric combinations on personalized plates are a means for the state to convey information about the vehicle to law enforcement and the public. Although vehicle owners use the plates to communicate personal messages, this is “incidental” and “does not refute this distinct government purpose.”
Because state law forbids the department from issuing plates that are offensive or endorse any practice that is against state policy, “the state exercises enough control over personalized plates for the plates to be government speech,” the state’s highest court said.
In the petition, Gilliam’s attorneys said “an important legal principle is at stake” in the case.
“If the messages on personalized license plates are government speech, then those messages are exempt from the First Amendment. That means a state can allow personalized plates that support one political party but prohibit others,” petition said.
The Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision is “demonstrably wrong” and should be reversed, the petition said.
Attorneys for David Gerregano, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue, said the U.S. Supreme Court held in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc., that license plates are “government-mandated, government-controlled, and government-issued IDs.”
The state uses the plates to convey a message that constitutes government speech, the state brief said. The message is, “Identify this vehicle by these alphanumeric characters,” and that is true “whether the characters are requested or randomly generated,” the .pdf
said.
“This Court does not need another license-plate case on government speech. One is plenty,” the brief said.
The Epoch Times reached out to attorneys for Gilliam and Gerregano for comment. No replies were received by publication time.
Mon, 12/15/2025 - 20:55
The Epoch Times
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Free Speech Case Over Vanity Plate
The Tennessee Supreme Court previously held that license plates constitute government speech, not private expression.
In 2010, she applied to the state for a custom plate “69PWNDU,” a phrase that is “understandable to people who share her interests.”
Gilliam says the “69” refers to the 1969 moon landing and “PWND” is a video gamers’ expression that means to be dominated or defeated.
The Tennessee Department of Revenue approved the application and issued the plate, which she mounted on her car for 11 years, during which the department did not receive any complaints about it, the petition said.
After the department’s chief of staff received a complaint in 2021, the agency canceled the personalized plate, asserting it violated state law because it was “offensive to good taste and decency.”
Gilliam sued, arguing that the state law was inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment because it empowered the government department to engage in viewpoint-based discrimination, the petition said.
The Tennessee Chancery Court ruled for the state, finding that the custom plate constituted government speech, not private speech, so the First Amendment does not prevent the state from discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. The Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the plate was private speech. The court said that most courts have ruled that personalized plates are private speech, the petition said.
The appeals court said vehicle owners use custom plates to express their own messages, that the public sees vehicle owners as the ones speaking, and that even though state employees screen the plates, the process is not involved enough to make the messages on the plates government speech.
The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed, finding that the public sees custom plates as government speech. It also held that alphanumeric combinations on personalized plates are a means for the state to convey information about the vehicle to law enforcement and the public. Although vehicle owners use the plates to communicate personal messages, this is “incidental” and “does not refute this distinct government purpose.”
Because state law forbids the department from issuing plates that are offensive or endorse any practice that is against state policy, “the state exercises enough control over personalized plates for the plates to be government speech,” the state’s highest court said.
In the petition, Gilliam’s attorneys said “an important legal principle is at stake” in the case.
“If the messages on personalized license plates are government speech, then those messages are exempt from the First Amendment. That means a state can allow personalized plates that support one political party but prohibit others,” petition said.
The Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision is “demonstrably wrong” and should be reversed, the petition said.
Attorneys for David Gerregano, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue, said the U.S. Supreme Court held in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc., that license plates are “government-mandated, government-controlled, and government-issued IDs.”
The state uses the plates to convey a message that constitutes government speech, the state brief said. The message is, “Identify this vehicle by these alphanumeric characters,” and that is true “whether the characters are requested or randomly generated,” the .pdf
said.
“This Court does not need another license-plate case on government speech. One is plenty,” the brief said.
The Epoch Times reached out to attorneys for Gilliam and Gerregano for comment. No replies were received by publication time.
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The Philippines said Chinese coast guard vessels used water cannons against Filipino fishing boats near Sabina Shoal during an incident Friday. This led to a weekend of tit-for-tat accusations and denunciations.
China's narrative is that it claimed Philippine personnel threatened its officers with knives. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that the Philippines had deployed a large number of vessels in a coordinated and intentional effort to stir up trouble in waters near the disputed shoal.
Guo's statement said they "repeatedly carried out dangerous maneuvers" and after knives were brandished, "The measures taken by China were necessary to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, were reasonable and lawful, professional and restrained, and beyond reproach."
"The Philippine side should immediately cease its infringement and provocations, stop hyping and spreading inflammatory narratives, and end the endless self-staged maritime farce," it added.
However, Western sources say it was Philippine civilians who got the worst of it, with several suffering injuries from the encounter. According to the 
The United States has also restated that its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines applies to Philippine vessels operating in the South China Sea. The State Department has made clear that Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty covers armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Philippine Coast Guard. And this applies to anywhere in the South China Sea, the prior warning from October indicated.
When Milei assumed power, Argentina was hurtling toward hyperinflation and misery, on an accelerated path of economic devastation. Inflation was 25.5% per month.
Under the socialism of the 21st century, Kirchnerism’s “inclusive monetary policy” led to skyrocketing cumulative inflation: between 2011 and 2015, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner oversaw a roughly 175% increase in prices, while Alberto Fernández’s destructive term resulted in a cumulative inflation rate of 1,020%, the highest among the previous five presidents, which meant that prices nearly multiplied tenfold. These policies sank the peso, triggered massive inflation, and drove poverty to over 41.7%, according to official figures. Alberto Fernández left behind nearly 19 million poor and 4.3 million indigent people, multiple exchange rates, a devastating capital control regime, and a bankrupt central bank with net negative reserves of over 15 billion.
Socialism impoverished a rich country like Argentina at an alarming and very rapid rate.
Javier Milei came to power with non-negotiable goals: a fiscal surplus, curbing inflation, and reviving a sunken economy. His first two years in office conclude with a spectacular macroeconomic record: inflation has plummeted from global highs, poverty has fallen back to 2018 levels, the economy is back on a growth trajectory, net debt has been significantly reduced, and real wages are beginning to recover—all thanks to the largest adjustment and deregulation plan in decades.
Milei inherited a monthly inflation rate of 25.5% in December 2023, close to 300% annually—the highest in the world—and has quickly reduced it to around 2.3% per month by October, the lowest level since 2018, with forecasts pointing to a further decline in 2026. Furthermore, the budget has gone from an unsustainable deficit to recording a surplus for the first time in 14 years, thanks to deep cuts in unnecessary spending without harming essential services, closing ministries, eliminating useless agencies, reducing subsidies, and cutting tens of thousands of bloated public-sector jobs from the final stretch of the previous administration.
Letting the economy breathe works.
Appropriate liberalisation policies have significantly reduced poverty. UCA estimates show a nearly 20 percentage point drop from the crisis peaks and a rate in the 31–36% range—the lowest level in six years—while UNICEF estimates that around 1.7 million children have been lifted out of poverty over the past two years. Furthermore, independent analysts place the “real poverty” inherited from Alberto Fernández at levels much higher than 41.7% if the exchange rate was fully adjusted; in any case, even using official figures, the turnaround is undeniable: far fewer people in poverty and greater purchasing power for vulnerable groups when inflation is tackled at its root.
Argentina was already in a recession when Milei took office. Argentina’s GDP fell by 1.6% in 2023, according to INDEC, and had already been declining since 2022, with a 2.2% seasonally adjusted drop in the fourth quarter of 2022. GDP fell by 1.3% in 2024 and soared by 5.2% in the first nine months of 2025. The 2025 economic growth figures have more than compensated for the deficit, demonstrating robust and healthy growth that is not influenced by public spending. The IMF predicts a growth rate of approximately 4.5% for 2025, placing it among the highest in Latin America. By 2026, projections from major organisations place GDP growth at around 3%–4%, with cumulative growth of nearly 8 percentage points between 2025 and 2026. This strong momentum contrasts with the chronic stagnation left behind by socialism, which had the audacity to claim that its problem was that “we’re growing too much.” The confirmation of the GDP decline in 2023 showed that Argentina’s GDP was virtually the same as in 2011, despite soaring public spending and deficits that artificially boosted economic activity.
Milei’s austerity measures have resulted in a sharp reduction in public-sector employment—which had been inflated by Kirchnerism and financed with debt and inflation—while the private sector begins to take over. Milei created more than 650,000 new private-sector jobs. Total employment has grown by 330,000 jobs in two years, according to INDEC, and, most importantly, public-sector employment has fallen by 370,000 unnecessary political positions inflated by Kirchnerism, while private-sector employment has risen sharply. The government’s objective is for formal private-sector employment to grow steadily as the GDP rebound consolidates, with various scenarios placing the unemployment rate at around 6.5% by 2026 if the reforms are maintained.
Public debt reached very high levels at the end of 2023 and has since fallen dramatically in net terms. The debt burden on the economy has fallen sharply: it has been reduced by tens of billions of dollars and has declined in absolute terms and as a percentage of GDP, and the inherited explosive dynamic has been halted. The debt-to-GDP ratio dropped from over 100% between 2020 and 2023, peaking at 155%, to 70% in the third quarter of 2025.
We cannot forget the debt hole hidden in the Central Bank left by socialism. Milei eliminated the central bank’s debt by transferring it to the Treasury, as it should be, and in the two years of his presidency, total debt recorded a net decrease of 48.5 billion. Minister Luis Caputo and Central Bank President Santiago Bausili played a crucial role in defusing the potential explosives left by socialism, preventing them from exploding in the face of the next administration. We cannot forget Diego Santilli’s efforts to ensure the safety and peace of mind of Argentinians in the face of constant sabotage threats, nor Manuel Adorni’s efforts to dismantle socialist propaganda and disinformation.
The primary surplus has been achieved by cutting spending, reducing the burden of inefficient subsidies, curbing public employment growth, and prioritising essential social programs. Fewer subsidies for everyone and more assistance for those who truly need it allow us to reduce debt, control spending, and help those who really require it.
Deregulation to remove the state’s boot from the economy.
DNU 70/2023 and the Ley Bases have dismantled hundreds of regulations in the markets for goods, services, rentals, foreign trade, and public enterprises, led by the Ministry of Deregulation headed by Federico Sturzenegger. The elimination of price controls, the reduction of tariffs, and the opening of sectors such as air transport and real estate have resulted in a greater variety of products and better prices for consumers.
Now it’s investment’s turn, which needs to eliminate the legal uncertainty created by socialism. The RIGI programme, designed to attract large investments of over $100 million, offers regulatory stability and legal certainty, and more than $31 billion in projects have already been announced, especially in mining and energy.
It is essential that Spanish companies invest in the Argentina of freedom, as the United States has done, or they will miss out on the ongoing period of prosperity.
Voters perceive all these macroeconomic achievements: in the midterm legislative elections, La Libertad Avanza won around 41% of the vote compared to the Peronists’ 32%, marking the first time since 1989 that Peronism has ceased to be the largest minority in Congress and enabling the acceleration of structural reforms.
It’s not a miracle. It’s not an experiment. Milei and his government team have implemented economic logic and an unequivocal defence of freedom.
The recipe for our countries is clear: reject gradualism and defend freedom without any reservations… and prosperity flourishes.
Mikhaila Peterson shared an update on social media this week—her first since October—to announce her father’s return home after spending time in an intensive care unit this fall, where he was treated for pneumonia and sepsis. Those conditions appeared after mold exposure this summer led to a “severe” flare-up of a chronic illness he has been battling since 2017, she said.
Specialists are continuing to work on determining the underlying cause of his illness and are considering a complex array of possibilities from neurological, to autoimmune, to a mixture of both.
Mikhaila said no answers have emerged thus far and he remains “very unwell.”
“I’m hopeful he will recover with time,” she said in a Dec. 9 video 
That latter part is likely designed to gain Trump's attention and sympathy, given the president has been emphasizing this point all the way back to his first term.
The bill if passed would require the US government to formally notify NATO that it intends to end its membership and halt the use of American funds for shared budgets. Republican Senator Lee actually introduced similar legislation earlier this year, but it stalled in committee.
Of course, most Congress members have viewpoints which merely reflect the 'pro-NATO' established position of the vast majority of Western politicians generally, so it's very unlikely to ever be passed.
Massie wrote on 
The remark, captured in a clip shared widely on X, comes as leftists ramp up efforts to sow chaos in the ranks, painting Trump as a threat to the Constitution while ignoring their own history of politicizing the military.
Watch:
Sen. Mark Warner: "I think, in many ways, the uniformed military may help save us from this President."
They're now just openly calling for military coups against President Trump. 
Hassett, who has strongly defended Trump's economic policies, including tariffs and interest rates, said he would be happy to serve as Fed chief if Trump nominated him.
“I’m really honored to be amongst a group of really great candidates,” Hassett told CBS.
“I think that the American people could expect President Trump to pick somebody who’s going to help them, you know, have cheaper car loans and easier access to mortgages at lower rates.”
We do note that rates are higher this morning after Trump's comments (and the yield curve is steeper - policy error), but there are a lot of moving parts after the long weekend (from mixed manufacturing data to a hawkish BoJ) impacting markets.
Market-implied odds have soared to fully price in a rate-cut in December...
Finally, we note that Hassett's financial disclosure reveals at least a seven‑figure Coinbase stake and compensation for serving on the exchange’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, placing him unusually close to the crypto industry for a potential Fed chair.
Still, crypto has been burned before by reading too much into “crypto‑literate” resumes. 
"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP," Trump wrote on X.
To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 
Joint Special Operations Command has ordered numerous airstrikes on speed boats carrying narcoterrorists. The intent is to stop drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists that are part of a sophisticated network pumping drugs into America, resulting in the drug death overdose crisis that kills 100,000 Americans per year - one that the Biden-Harris regime ignored by opening borders to the third world.
On Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed fake news from corporate media about recent lethal kinetic strikes.
Hegseth explained:
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we've said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes." The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narcoterrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narcoterrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) 
"Proud to announce our partnership with @BeastPhilanthr, bringing together a storied history of improving billions of lives with next-gen storytelling that inspires action. With @MrBeast, we'll show that when kindness goes viral, big change is possible," Shah wrote on X, accompanied by a video featuring him and MrBeast founder Jimmy Donaldson.
Proud to announce our partnership with 
We will now see if the British people have lost all self-respect and separation from their government in yielding to this decision.