Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.

Decided June 18, 2015. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 14-144 · 576 U.S. 200 (2015) · Cited 308 times

Holding

Texas' specialty license plate designs constitute government speech, and thus Texas was entitled to refuse to issue plates featuring SCV's proposed design.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Pleasant Grove City v. Summum · 555 U.S. 460 (2009)
• Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. · 473 U.S. 788 (1985)
• Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of University of Virginia · 515 U.S. 819 (1995)
• Wooley v. Maynard · 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Rust v. Sullivan · 500 U.S. 173 (1991)
• Good News Club v. Milford Central School · 533 U.S. 98 (2001)
• Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth · 529 U.S. 217 (2000)
• Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Assn. · 544 U.S. 550 (2005)
• Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights · 418 U.S. 298 (1974)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. · 515 U.S. 557 (1995)
• International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee · 505 U.S. 672 (1992)
• Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes · 523 U.S. 666 (1998)
• Keller v. State Bar of California · 496 U.S. 1 (1990)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck · 587 U.S. 802 (2019)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2015). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).