Supreme Court to settle Texas battle over Confederate flag plates

WASHINGTON — Texas wanted to join the Confederacy so badly in 1861 that it kicked a reluctant Sam Houston out of office to pave its way to secession. Now the state is fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the Confederate battle flag off its license plates.

Justices will hear arguments Monday in a case that stands either for the right of Americans to speak freely, even if they offend others, or for the right of Texas officials to keep such messages off government-issued plates.

The court will decide by early summer. But the legal showdown between the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the Sons of Confederate Veterans has rekindled an older, more deeply felt debate.

Next month marks 150 years since Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Palm Sunday surrender at Appomattox, and the country still is asking whether it’s possible for Southerners to wave the battle flag of their forefathers without reminding others, especially African-Americans, of the legacy of slavery.

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