Leah Gilliam v. David Gerregano, et al.

For over a decade, Leah Gilliam’s vehicle displayed a personalized license plate that read “69PWNDU.” The State eventually revoked the plate after deeming the message offensive. Gilliam sued state officials, alleging that Tennessee’s personalized license plate program discriminates based on viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment. The State argues that the First Amendment’s prohibition of viewpoint discrimination does not apply to the alphanumeric characters on Tennessee’s personalized license plates because they are government speech.

On August 26, 2025, the Institute for Free Speech and Simon Tam filed a joint amicus brief before the Supreme Court in support of the petitioner, urging the Court to “exercise great caution before extending our government-speech precedents.”

To read the amicus brief, click here.