Thursday, March 27, 2003

Economic impact of war and constitutionality of the "Choose Life" plate

Governor Warner said today the war's economic impact on Virginia is unknown, according to this report. This commentary in the New York Times (registration required) says war does not bring prosperity, noting that "Economic evaluations [of the war's impact] emphasize the negative effects of uncertainty and possible oil shocks, rather than any positive effects of military spending."

In the same story, Governor Warner cited Judge Bertelsman's ruling in a South Carolina case as one basis for his veto of the "Choose Life" license plate. Judge Bertelsman, a senior status judge from the E.D. Ky., ruled that the plaintiffs including Planned Parenthood of South Carolina had standing and that the license plate was a form of viewpoint discrimination, applying the Fourth Circuit's Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate opinion, which affirmed Judge Kiser's ruling against a Virginia license plate statute as applied to the use of the Confederate flag and generated these widely divergent opinions from Judges Wilkinson, Williams, Luttig, Niemeyer, and Gregory on the denial of rehearing.

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