A dispute over a police officer's vanity license plate has grown into a constitutional debate that could lead to the Indiana General Assembly taking action.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it will ask the state Supreme Court to overrule a judge who said the BMV violated the officer's freedom of speech when it revoked his license plate that read “zero-i-n-k” or "0INK."
Hoosier motorists haven't been allowed to buy vanity plates for a year now, after Greenfield Police Officer Rodney Vawter sued the BMV, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
BMV Commissioner Donald Snemis told The Associated Press that if the Indiana Supreme Court agrees to take up the issue, it may direct lawmakers to rewrite the law. The legislature could decide to do away with vanity plates or set-up guidelines for such plates.