Utah's DMV silent on politically charged license plate

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A subscriber on the Utah Political Watch Discord spotted this license plate in Logan, which seems to celebrate the deadly January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Is this license plate legal?

The answer hinges on the state’s regulations for personalized license plates.

First, Utah code explicitly prohibits plates that "carry connotations offensive to good taste or that would be misleading." Second, the state's DMV guidelines specifically bar messages expressing "superiority" of any "political affiliation."

There are likely plenty of Utahns who would feel a personalized plate that glorifies an attempt to overthrow the government in which police officers were beaten amid chants of "Hang Mike Pence" would be "offensive to good taste."

And the mob that descended on the Capitol that day were supporters of President Donald Trump. One could reasonably think that this plate promotes a political affiliation.

On the other hand, there are plenty of Utahns and officials, including Sen. Mike Lee, who played a key role in Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol, who might see no issue with the plate’s message, even though it celebrates an event that resulted in multiple deaths and over 1,200 criminal charges.

Neither the Utah State Tax Commission nor the Department of Motor Vehicles responded to requests for comment on how this plate cleared their approval process.

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