Delaware halts issuing vanity license plates after judge rules in case involving cancer survivor

CLAYMONT, Delaware (WPVI) -- The vanity license plate program in Delaware is on pause after a judge's ruling in a case involving a cancer survivor.

Kari Overington applied for and received a plate that had the letters FCANCER.

It was issued, but then recalled, because the DMV considered it to be offensive, the legal director of the ACLU of Delaware, Dwayne Bensing, told Action News.

"Our client really wants her vanity plate," Bensing said.

Overington said the plate meant "fight cancer."

She has now successfully sued to have her vanity plate restored after a federal judge's ruling this week.

"Those alphanumeric combinations that folks have on their vanity plates are private speech, are expressions, that are protected by the First Amendment," Bensing said.

Now the United States District Court of Delaware has ruled that various sections of the Delaware Code, which authorized vanity license plates, and the Division of Motor Vehicles' vanity license plate regulation, are unconstitutional.

The DMV said it will "no longer accept, or process, new vanity license plate requests and all pending vanity license plate requests have ceased being processed."

However, existing vanity license plates currently remain eligible for renewal.

There are just over a million registered vehicles in the state. Roughly 24,000 have vanity plates.

Now it's a waiting game for future applicants until the DMV determines how it wants to proceed.

"Certainly that will be the obligation of the Department of Transportation: either continue issuing vanity plates, but through a process that complies with the First Amendment, and I believe that's possible," said Bensing.

"Or," he added, "they could just cease issuing vanity plates altogether."

The Delaware Department of Transportation sent Action News this statement:

"The United States District Court of Delaware has ruled that various sections of Delaware Code which authorized vanity license plates and the Division of Motor Vehicles' vanity license plate regulation are unconstitutional. As a result, the vanity tag program operated by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles is suspended effective immediately and no new vanity tags will be issued. The DMV will no longer accept, or process new vanity license plate requests and all pending vanity license plate requests have ceased being processed as of Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Existing vanity license plates which have been issued prior to the Court's decision currently remain eligible for renewal. The department is continuing to review the Court's decision prior to commenting further on the decision and the impact on the future of the vanity plate program."