Mitchell v. Md. Motor Vehicle Admin.

• Decision Date: 25 November 2015
• Docket Number: No. 713, Sept. Term, 2014.,713, Sept. Term, 2014.
• Citation: 126 A.3d 165,225 Md.App. 529
• Parties: John T. MITCHELL v. MARYLAND MOTOR VEHICLE ADMINISTRATION.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

225 Md.App. 529

126 A.3d 165

John T. MITCHELL

v.MARYLAND MOTOR VEHICLE ADMINISTRATION.

No. 713, Sept. Term, 2014.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Nov. 25, 2015.

John T. Mitchell, pro se appellant.

Neil I. Jacobs (Brian E. Frosh, Atty. Gen., on the brief), Glen Burnie, MD, for appellee.

Panel: DEBORAH S. EYLER, ARTHUR, JAMES A. KENNEY, III (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.

DEBORAH S. EYLER, J.

John T. Mitchell applied to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration ("MVA") for vanity plates bearing the letters MIERDA. The application was granted. Two years later, the MVA received a complaint from a member of the public about Mitchell's vanity plates. It investigated and determined that "mierda" is the Spanish word for "shit." Pursuant to a State regulation giving the MVA discretion to deny or rescind vanity plates that contain profanities, epithets, or obscenities, the MVA rescinded Mitchell's vanity plates.

Mitchell challenged the MVA's action in a contested case hearing before an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ"). The ALJ decided that the MVA properly exercised its discretion to rescind Mitchell's vanity plates and that its action did not violate Mitchell's First Amendment right to free speech. The Circuit Court for Prince George's County upheld the decision, and this appeal followed.

The novel issues before this Court are whether messages on vanity plates are government speech or private speech on government property; and if they are the latter, what degree of government restriction may be imposed on that private speech under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.¹ We hold that Mitchell's vanity plate message is private speech on government property, not government speech. Under prevailing United States Supreme Court jurisprudence, Maryland vanity plates are a "nonpublic forum," in which government restrictions on private speech will pass muster under the First Amendment if they are reasonable and viewpoint neutral. As applied in this case, Maryland's restriction against profanities, epithets, and obscenities on vanity plates satisfies that test.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

All vehicles registered in Maryland must display license plates issued to the vehicle owner by the MVA. Md. Code (1977, 2012 Repl. Vol.), § 13–411 of the Transportation Article.² For most vehicles, license plates must be displayed on the front and back, so the plates are issued in sets. § 13–410(a). Each set of license plates displays a unique "registration number" assigned by the MVA. The registration number is made up of letters, numerals, or a combination of both. § 13–410(b).

Ordinarily, when a vehicle is registered, the MVA issues the owner a set of standard base license plates.³ The MVA is authorized to issue various types of special license plates, instead of the standard base plates, for which the vehicle owner must pay a fee in addition to the usual registration fee.

"Personalized registration plates"—known in the vernacular as "vanity plates"—bear a registration number that the vehicle owner selects, and the MVA then assigns to the vehicle, instead of assigning a standard registration number. § 13–613(a) and (c). See also Md. Motor Vehicle Administration, Personalized (Vanity) License Plates, Maryland.gov, http://www.mva.maryland.gov/vehicles/licenseplates/personalized-license-plates.htm (last visited Nov. 9, 2015). A vehicle owner may apply for vanity plates that display a registration number of no more than seven selected alphanumeric characters. § 13–613(c)(1). The MVA has discretion to "refuse any combination of letters and numerals" requested. Id. at (c)(2). Right now, vanity plates cost $50 per year. Id. at (b). The fees collected for vanity plates are distributed to the Maryland Transportation Trust Fund. Id. at (d).

For the most part, the only difference between vanity plates and standard base license plates is the personalized registration number. Unlike vanity plates, most of the other special license plates the MVA is authorized to issue alter the design of the license plate itself. What we shall call "commemorative plates" are specially designed base license plates that are alternatives to the standard base license plate. Presently, Maryland manufactures two commemorative plates: "Chesapeake Bay Plates," depicting a blue heron and marsh grass and bearing the slogan "Treasure the Chesapeake, " see § 13–618 and Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 11.15.15.01(A) ; and "Agricultural Plates," depicting a farm scene and bearing the slogan, "Our Farms, Our Future, " see § 13–619.2; COMAR 11.15.30.01(A). At this time, commemorative plates cost $20 initially, with a $10 per year renewal fee. See Md. Motor Vehicle Administration, MVA Fee Listing, Maryland.gov, http://www.mva.maryland.gov/about-mva/fees/index.htm ("MVA Fee Listing") (last visited Nov. 9, 2015).

The largest class of special license plates the MVA is authorized to issue are those that may be obtained by vehicle owners associated with non-profit organizations. We shall refer to these as "specialty plates." Specialty plates are custom designed for an organization to depict its name, initial, emblem, or logo. § 13–619. A vehicle owner who demonstrates that there are at least 25 other vehicle owners in the same class may make a request to the MVA to manufacture a proposed specialty plate. § 13–619(c)(2). If the MVA approves the design for the proposed specialty plate, the plate will be manufactured and issued to all qualified applicants, for the required fee. The registration numbers on those specialty plates match the number of owners who have applied for and obtained the plates. Over 800 specialty plates have been issued by the MVA.⁴ Presently, the fee for specialty plates is $25 with a logo and $15 without a logo, with no yearly renewal fee. See MVA Fee Listing, supra.

The case at bar involves vanity plates and, to some extent, commemorative plates. It does not involve specialty plates.

In 2009, Mitchell accessed the MVA's website and submitted an on-line application for vanity plates to be assigned the 7 letters "MIERDA," and to appear on the commemorative Agricultural Plate. He paid the vanity plate fee and the commemorative plate fee. The MVA approved his application and issued his vehicle Agricultural Plates bearing the registration number "MIERDA." Mitchell renewed his registration for those plates in June of 2011.

In December of 2011, the MVA received a letter from a member of the public complaining that Mitchell's vanity plates were inappropriate. This prompted Sharon Crow, Manager of the MVA's Motor Carrier and Electronic Services Division, to look up the word "mierda" on a Wikipedia website. She discovered that "mierda" is the Spanish word for "shit." The definition redirected her to a Wikipedia site entitled "Spanish profanity." That site gave as the first definition for "mierda" "a noun meaning ‘shit.’ "⁵

In the ordinary course of operations, Crow's Division maintains the "objectionable plate list," i.e., a list of words and various combinations of characters the MVA has deemed not acceptable to appear on Maryland license plates, under regulations it has promulgated. The list is not exhaustive. When the MVA receives information that a word or combination of characters is not acceptable, it updates the list to so reflect. Often that information will come from the prisoners who actually make the license plates. At the relevant time in this case, the employee in Crow's Division whose job it was to check vanity plate applications against the objectionable plate list did not speak Spanish.

The English word "shit" is on the "objectionable plate list" and was on that list when Mitchell applied for his vanity plates. The Spanish word "mierda" was not on the list then, when Mitchell renewed the registration for his vanity plates, or when the MVA received the complaint about his vanity plates.

Based on her newly acquired knowledge of the meaning of the Spanish word "mierda," Crow decided that Mitchell's vanity plates should be rescinded. On December 27, 2011, the MVA notified Mitchell by letter that his vanity plates "ha[d] been issued in error and were being recalled." The letter cited COMAR 11.15.29.02(D), which states that the MVA has discretion to rescind a vanity plate that contains profanities, epithets, or obscenities.⁶ The MVA informed Mitchell that he could apply for new vanity plates, which, if available, would be "ordered and issued gratis"; and enclosed a refund application in case he did not wish to order new vanity plates. The MVA issued Mitchell "a gratis set of regular plates" for him to use in the meantime.

By letter of January 31, 2012, Mitchell asked the MVA to "consider reversing its decision" and to allow him to keep his vanity plates. He argued "that because [his] plates are" Agricultural Plates, the word "mierda" is "particularly appropriate since our farms produce a lot of it and use a lot of it to grow our food." He claimed to have a "First Amendment right to use the combination of letters of [his] choice to express a message or viewpoint." In the event the MVA was unwilling to reverse its decision, he requested a contested case hearing before the Office of Administrative Hearings ("OAH").⁷

The MVA was not persuaded by Mitchell's letter and the matter was referred to the OAH. A contested case hearing was held before an ALJ on April 23, 2012. The MVA was represented by counsel. Mitchell represented himself.⁸

Mitchell was the sole witness in his case. He testified that he was born in Chile and is fluent in Spanish. He opined that "mierda" does not "mean exclusively shit"; it also means "[c]ompost or trash, or good for nothing." He claimed that he chose the word "mierda" for his vanity plates "to support agriculture." He "was just getting down to earth of saying that we ought to go more with the earth and the compost." Mitchell agreed that "mierda" is a Spanish word that can be understood to mean "shit."

Crow was the only MVA witness. She testified about...