New lawsuit challenges California’s egregious censorship of license plates like “OG” and “QUEER”

San Francisco; March 10, 2020: A lawsuit filed today challenges the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ arbitrary censorship of speech on personalized license plates. 

After Chris Ogilvie was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army following four tours overseas, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, he bought a new car and applied for a personalized license plate that read “OGWOOLF.” The plate simply tied in his military nickname, OG, and his nickname from home, Woolf. 

Ogilvie was shocked and furious when the California DMV rejected his license–plate application, alleging that OG is short for “original gangster” and too offensive for motorists. To Ogilvie, the personalized plate also represented a very important form of self-expression protected by the same Constitution that he defended during his years of service. 

“Laws that give government officials discretion to ban speech they find offensive lead to senseless results,” said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Wen Fa. “Chris earned his nickname through years of service to our country, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to express that in a personalized license plate.” 

Four other Californians joined the lawsuit to challenge the rejection of their plates: 

• “DUK N A,” short for “Ducati and Andrea,” rejected because it sounded like an obscene phrase. 
• “BO11UX,” rejected because the term was said to have sexual connotations, even though “bullocks” has been used to mean “nonsense” in a national advertising campaign. 
• “SLAAYRR,” a reference to the metal band, rejected because it was considered “threatening, aggressive, or hostile.” 
• “QUEER,” a reference to a musician’s identity and record label, rejected because it was considered insulting, degrading, or expressive of contempt. 

Chris Ogilvie, Andrea Campanile, Paul Crawford, James Blair, and Amrit Kohli are represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation. The case is Ogilvie v. Gordon, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.