MILTON, Del. - The American Civil Liberties Union Delaware announced Monday it will represent a Milton woman's lawsuit challenging the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicle's decision to recall her vanity license plate "FCANCER".
According to the ACLU of Delaware, Kari Lynn Overington's lawsuit is currently pending in the Federal District Court of Delaware. It challenges the Delaware DMV's decision as cencorship of her First Amendment rights to speech and expression.
In December 2020, Overington applied for the vanity license plate and received it in the mail two months later, according to the ACLU of Delaware. However, in June 2021, she received a letter from the Delaware DMV that they were recalling the license plate, citing it “does not represent the division or the state in a positive manner.”
In a press release Monday, the ACLU of Delaware Legal Director Dwayne J. Bensing said in a statement “Delaware permits its citizens to express themselves through vanity license plates...This case underscores the problems in the Delaware DMV’s current review process, which is subjective and has now led to censorship of protected speech,” Bensing said.
The ACLU of Delaware said in 2021 Overington filed a lawsuit without an attorney in federal district court. Recently, it said, the judge rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case citing that it raised a “significant constitutional issue.”
