ACLU not satisfied with South Dakota's new vanity plate policy

Civil liberties group files federal lawsuit against Department of Revenue

A change in how the state of South Dakota goes about approving or denying vanity license plates won't be enough to spare it from a lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota has filed a complaint in federal court against the South Dakota Department of Revenue, alleging that denials for personalized license plates made by the agency’s Motor Vehicles Division in recent years are a violation of the constitution.

“The First Amendment prevents arbitrary decision-making when it comes to expression,” said Stephanie Amiotte, legal director for ACLU of South Dakota, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of a South Dakotan who denied the license plate REZWEED by the MVD. “Although no one likes to be offended, it’s dangerous to allow the government to decide which speech is allowed and which should be censored.”

RELATED: Here's the full list of vanity license plates denied by South Dakota government