Governor Calls for End to Confederate Flag License Plate in Virginia

Gov. Terry McAuliffe plans to replace a specialty license plate for members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans because the current plate prominently features the Confederate battle flag.

The flag has been controversial for decades as a symbol adopted by white supremacists.

It has come under increasing scrutiny in the last week after Dylann Roof killed nine African-American churchgoers during a bible study in a historic Charleston, S.C. church. Images widely distributed of Roof show him holding a Confederate flag, and he has reportedly told authorities he was attempting to start a race war.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that Texas can refuse a license plate request from the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the specialty license plate constitutes government speech, and Texas is entitled to reject a plate with the Confederate battle flag on it.

On Monday, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and other prominent Palmetto State officials announced they would begin the process of removing a Confederate flag that currently flies in a high-profile spot in front of the statehouse.

“As Governor Haley said yesterday, her state can ill afford to let this symbol continue to divide the people of South Carolina,” McAulife said Tuesday morning. “I believe the same is true here in Virginia”

McAuliffe has asked Virginia’s Attorney General Mark Herring to take steps to reverse a previous court ruling in Virginia that required the state to allow the Confederate flag on the plates. And he is working with Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne to prepare for replacing the currently-issued plates.

“Even its display on state issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people,” McAuliffe said.