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Beyond The First Amendment: What The Evolution Of Maryland's Constitutional Free-Speech Guarantee Shows About Its Intended Breadth, Anthony W. Kraus
Beyond The First Amendment: What The Evolution Of Maryland's Constitutional Free-Speech Guarantee Shows About Its Intended Breadth, Anthony W. Kraus
University of Baltimore Law Forum
Most Maryland lawyers are vaguely aware that Maryland's Declaration of Rights contains its own guarantee of free speech that is worded differently from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. What the Declaration of Rights actually says about free speech, however, and what can be inferred from its distinctive phrasing and legislative history, are not matters that have received much particularized attention. Decisions of Maryland's courts routinely state that Article 40 of the Declaration of Rights - the principal source of state free-speech rights - is construed in pari materia with the First Amendment, which, as a practical matter, …
Recent Development: Mitchell V. Md. Motor Vehicle Admin.: Vanity Licence Plates Constitute Private Speech In A Nonpublic Forum, Which Require Restrictions To Be Reasonable And Viewpoint Neutral, Sarah J. Jentilet
University of Baltimore Law Forum
The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the Motor Vehicle Administration acted within constitutional boundaries when it recalled a vanity license plate displaying the word "MIERDA." Mitchell v. Md. Motor Vehicle Admin., 450 Md. 282, 288, 148 A.3d 319, 323 (2016). The court found that the message on a vanity plate is considered private speech in a nonpublic forum, and accordingly government speech restrictions must be reasonable and viewpoint neutral. Id.
In 2009, the Motor Vehicle Administration ("MVA") issued vanity plates with the term "MIERDA" to John T. Mitchell ("Mitchell"). Two years later, Mitchell renewed the plates. Thereafter, the …