South Dakota

ACLU sues South Dakota over its vanity plate restrictions

Published

1 year ago

November 6, 2023

ACLU sues South Dakota over its vanity plate restrictions

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota announced Monday that it is suing South Dakota over a state law that restricts content on vanity plates.

The ACLU said in a press release that it filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lyndon Hart, whose application for a plate that said “REZWEED” was initially denied by the South Dakota Motor Vehicle Division for allegedly being “in poor taste.”

Hart runs a business called Rez Weed Indeed, which he uses to support the legal selling and use of marijuana on Native American reservations. Hart intended for the personalized license plate to refer to his business and its mission of promoting tribal sovereignty, the news release said.

According to the complaint filed Friday, the state Department of Revenue denied Hart’s application in 2022. Under state law, the department has the authority to “refuse to issue any letter combination which carries connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”

The department later reversed its decision without explanation and granted Hart the REZWEED plate. But Hart’s free speech rights are still at risk because state law allows the department to recall the plates at any time if they are believed to have been issued in error, the complaint says.

The department used its authority to recall at least three personalized plates in 2022, the lawsuit says.

It names both the state’s Department of Revenue and the state’s Motor Vehicle Division.

Kendra Baucom, a spokesperson for both entities, declined to comment Monday on the lawsuit or on the state’s policy.

The ACLU said the Motor Vehicle Division has rejected hundreds of personalized plate requests in the past five years for allegedly carrying “connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”

The state’s standard is “overly broad, vague and subjective,” the ACLU says, and it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that include the rights of free speech and due process.

The ACLU added that the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that license plates are a legitimate place for personal and political expression, and courts throughout the country have struck down similar laws.

In January, North Carolina decided to allow more LGBTQ+ phrases on vanity plates. The state’s Division of Motor Vehicles approved more than 200 phrases that were previously blocked, including “GAYPRIDE,” “LESBIAN” and “QUEER.”

Other states — including Delaware, Oklahoma and Georgia — have been sued over their restrictions in recent years.

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Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15

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South Dakota

Saluki Football falls to No. 3 South Dakota State

Published

45 mins ago

November 17, 2024

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South Dakota

South Dakota Tops North Dakota 42-36

Published

8 hours ago

November 17, 2024

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(AP) — Aidan Bouman threw three touchdown passes, Charles Pierre Jr. and Travis Theis both ran for more than 100 yards and a touchdown and South Dakota held on to beat North Dakota 42-36 on Saturday.

Theis, who had 150 yards on 16 carries, scored on an 8-yard run early in the fourth quarter to make it 35-21. Then Pierre, who had 173 yards on 15 carries, broke loose for a 76-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to three touchdowns with 9:35 to play.

Simon Romfo scored on a 7-yard run and then found Bo Belquist for a 3-yard touchdown pass and threw a 2-point conversion with 23 seconds left.

But the Coyotes (8-2, 6-1 Missouri Valley Football Conference), the No. 5 team in the FCS coaches poll, recovered the onside kick to set up a showdown with top-ranked North Dakota State next week.

Sawyer Seidl scored on a 51-yard run to give North Dakota a 7-0 lead after one quarter. Romfo threw short touchdown passes to Nick Kupfer and Quincy Vaughn and Bouman matched that, hitting Carter Bell and Quaron Adams, but the Fighting Hawks (5-6, 2-5) led 21-17 at the break.

South Dakota took the lead on a 53-yard Bouman-to-Pierre connection four plays into the second half.

Bouman was 15 of 21 for 190 yards as the Coyotes had 512 total yards. Romfo was 20 of 30 for 180 as North Dakota finished with 322 yards.

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South Dakota

Landowners prepared for more pipeline struggles, hope for new ordinances

Published

16 hours ago

November 17, 2024

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Landowners prepared for more pipeline struggles, hope for new ordinances

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – On Friday, the North Dakota Public Service Commission unanimously approved a route permit for Summit Carbon Solutions and its CO2 pipeline project.

The pipeline would run through five states, including 18 counties in South Dakota, to transport sequestered carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to an underground storage location west of Bismark, North Dakota.

South Dakota is now one of the last things standing in the way of the project.

Landowners opposing the project like Ed Fischbach are still optimistic that they can prevent the pipeline, but they believe more action is needed to protect South Dakotans.

Fischbach said it wasn’t a surprise that North Dakota approved the permit.

“North Dakota’s laws are unfortunately not as good as ours are,” Fischbach explained. “Their law basically is what we just defeated in the referral. They have that in place up there similar to what RL 21 was.”

Opponents said that Referred Law 21, which South Dakota voters shot down, would have allowed Summit Carbon Solutions to supersede local and county laws and ordinances.

Some landowners pointed out that some counties have been slow to incorporate their own regulatory ordinances, like Turner or McCook Counties.

“I just can’t understand why they wouldn’t want to do that. They have the authority. They have the power,” Fischbach said.

Northern South Dakota Counties like Brown, McPherson and Spink counties have all set a standard for what these ordinances might look like.

Fischbach is proud of the work that was done to provide setbacks to route any potential pipeline project further away from homes schools, hospitals, feedlots and more.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission deemed these ordinances fair and reasonable. Although this reasoning was used by the PUC as part of the reason for denying Summit Carbon Solutions’ permit application, landowners believe more counties need to create these ordinances to better protect residents and their property rights.

“Any county that’s not doing that, I think they’re just not representing their people like they should be,” said Fischbach. “For the citizens of those counties, they just need to go to their county commission meeting and keep speaking out and asking them to step up and do it.”

As for Summit Carbon Solutions, they celebrated their win in North Dakota and now look forward to reapplying for a permit in South Dakota.

They stated that their application would be submitted on November 19, which is now just a few days away.

They remain hopeful that they can get the project to the finish line and provide economic benefits to the region.

In a press release, they said, “Summit Carbon Solutions remains committed to working collaboratively with affected landowners and communities as the project progresses toward construction and operations.”

The landowners opposing the pipeline have said that they have had a total of six big victories over Summit Carbon Solutions thus far, including the previous rejections from the South Dakota PUC and the South Dakota Supreme Court.

They believe that the South Dakota PUC will rule in their favor again.

“This has been a three-and-a-half-year struggle from the very beginning,” Fischbach said. “No one ever gave us a chance up against this giant of a company with millions of dollars and we’ve still defeated them just by doing things on the ground and going out directly to people. The frustrating part of this whole fight is that this company doesn’t seem to get the message. I mean, how many times does it take for them to understand that the people of South Dakota are saying no? Our grassroots coalition is energized, we’re not going anywhere and we’re going to stay in the fight until they are gone once and for all.”

Outside of county ordinances and showing up in opposition of Summit Carbon Solutions’ permit application, South Dakotans who oppose the pipeline project are hoping that legislation to change eminent domain laws in South Dakota will be passed in the upcoming session.

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