Kentucky officials ordered to pay $150,000 to man who wanted 'IM GOD' license plate

Sarah Ladd | Courier Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be out more than $150,000 after losing a legal battle to a man who wanted to put "IM GOD" on his license plate.

In November, a federal judge in Frankfort gave Ben Hart the OK to get the controversial license plate after a three-year legal battle against the cabinet.

Hart applied for the license in 2016 but was denied because it didn't "meet requirements."

Kentucky statute allows for personalized license plates as long as the letters do not discriminate against anyone because of their sex, race, color, religion or nationality.

'TRYGOD'? Yes. 'IMGOD'? No: Vanity plate rules, free speech butt heads

In Hart's case, the court ruled that vanity plates were private speech and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

On Monday, a judge ordered the Transportation Cabinet to pay out $150,715.50 in attorneys' fees and an additional $491.24 for court costs.

Lawyers for the cabinet fought the costs, calling them excessive and arguing that Hart didn't actually succeed in convincing the judge that the vanity plate statute was unconstitutional on its face but merely was allowed to get the license plate he wanted.

A judge overruled those arguments. The attorneys' fees will go to a team of lawyers, including lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which both backed Hart in the suit.

Follow Sarah Ladd on Twitter: @ladd_sarah.