Updated at 6 p.m.: Revised to include comments from Miller, an Olson aide

AUSTIN — Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is backing a renewed attempt by the state arm of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to generate money from specialty license plate sales.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is applauded as he takes the stage during the 2018 Texas GOP Convention held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio. Texas on Saturday, June 16, 2018. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer)

This time, the Southern historical group wants the tag to feature a rebel soldier carrying a Texas regiment's special flag at a major Civil War battle, and not the Confederate battle flag itself.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the state's authority to reject the plate, Miller said Monday that he sees nothing wrong with the Sons of Confederate Veterans' latest push to let motorists choose a specialty tag depicting a gray-clad Johnny Reb from Texas.

Asked if he's concerned black Texans will be offended, Miller replied, "The Confederate flag is one of the six flags that flew over the state. There's no profit in hiding our history and trying to rewrite history."

An aide to Kim Olson, Miller's Democratic opponent in the Nov. 6 election, though, questioned the move.

"Kids are hungry, farmers are struggling, rural communities are suffering, and this is his focus?" Olson campaign manager Kolby Monnig said in a written statement. "Kim Olson is working to reach all voters, because the Texas Department of Agriculture must represent all Texans."

Miller, an early supporter of President Donald Trump, regularly uses social media to push back on what he calls rampant "political correctness" in 21st century America. Though his tweets on Facebook posts sometimes have made even fellow Republicans cringe, Miller has persisted with defiance.

More than a decade ago, the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sought the state's approval for a tag showing its name and a square Confederate battle flag.

The board that oversees the state Department of Motor Vehicles rejected that plan as too divisive, spinning off a legal fight. In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld Texas' rejection as a legitimate choice by a government to decide which programs it wants to promote or espouse.

David McMahon and Gary Bray, the current and past Texas division commanders of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New plate proposed

In March, the Sons of Confederate Veterans submitted a new application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, department spokesman Adam Shaivitz confirmed Monday.

"New specialty license plate designs submitted ... must meet standards in legibility, reflectivity and graphics, and are subject to final approval by the" department's nine-member board, Shaivitz said in an email.

"This plate may be considered for action at the next board meeting in December," he said.

According to the Sons of Confederate Veterans application, the state Department of Agriculture is listed as the sponsoring state agency.

On March 18, Miller wrote a letter of support saying the Department of Agriculture, which he runs, would sponsor the plate and funnel the money from sales back to the nonprofit group.

Presumably, that would allow motorists to help fund, among other activities of the group, its lawsuit against University of Texas president Greg Fenves for removing Confederate monuments from the flagship school's Austin campus. The suit, on which the group's application says it's spent $30,000, is before the Texas Supreme Court.

In an interview, Miller said the Sons of Confederate Veterans approached him last spring, asking him to sponsor its application for a tag. After reviewing the design, Miller said:

"I couldn't see anything offensive about it."

The agriculture department sponsors specialty plates that raise money for Masons, the American Quarterhorse Association and Go Texan, which promotes the state's agricultural products, he noted.

"I'm not one to rewrite history, and I don't support taking the Confederate monuments down," he said.

"They have every right to do that," Miller said of the group.

Earlier, Miller spokesman Mark Loeffler made two points about the Sons' renewed application. "That's the Texas flag," he said, noting the new design doesn't display the Confederate emblem, though it shows a soldier's gray cap and tunic.

The department charges a $30 fee for a specialty plate. Of that, $22 goes to a selected cause.

In this case, that money would entirely flow to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, not to Miller's department, Loeffler noted.

Bloody Antietam

The newly proposed plate includes a portion of a painting by Fort Worth historical artist John Paul "Jack" Strain. Strain's painting depicts a Confederate soldier from the 1st Texas Regiment carrying what became known as the Texas Wigfall Flag at a crucial Civil War battle at Antietam, Md., in September 1862. The flag lists several earlier battles.

In 2011, the department's board unanimously rejected a proposed plate that would show the Sons of Confederate Veterans' name and the Confederate battle flag, a blue cross inlaid with white stars over a red background. The words "Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896" encircled the flag.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the board's decision, saying it didn't violate the First Amendment because the messages on such license plates are "government speech," not private speech.

Former Justice Anthony Kennedy, who over the weekend was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh after a searing confirmation battle involving accusations of sexual assault, joined dissenters. They argued that when a government opens up a forum — in this case space on its license plates — to outside groups, it can't pick and choose which messages are offensive and which are OK.

All five justices who ruled the DMV's board has every right to declare the Confederate battle flag too divisive to be emblazoned on its specialty license plates are still on the Supreme Court.

An undated handout photo of a proposed design of the novelty plate showing the Confederate flag, that Texas rejected. The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, June 18, 2015, that Texas did not violate the First Amendment when it refused to allow specialty license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag. (TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES)

In July 2015, a month after the high court's ruling, Bray, who at the time was group commander, told The Dallas Morning News, "We are going to come back with another design for our license plate," he said. "And our battle flag is not going anywhere."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans first conceived of the specialty plate bearing its logo as a fundraising gambit in 2007. The idea had the support of then-state Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who had the General Land Office he ran sponsor the group's design.

In hundreds of comments from opponents, though, elected officials, religious leaders, NAACP members and other critics called the proposed plate offensive — a hurtful reminder of slavery.