Santa Fe Man Fights To Keep His License Plate

Robert Anaya of Santa Fe, NM said that his fight to get back his controversial license plate is all about protecting the rights of everyone.

According to KOAT.com, Anaya had his license plate, which reads IB6UB9, approved back in 2009, but recently received a letter from the Motor Vehicle Division which said that due to its obscene nature, the plate was being revoked.

The state has said that it has received numerous complaints about the plate -- enough to cause its cancellation.

Anaya says that the message is not a sexual reference. Rather it refers to an inside joke he has with a friend.

His attorney argued that the plate does not fit the definition of obscene as laid out in the constitution. In order for something to be obscene, he said, it has to be intolerable and by the state's logic, things like house numbers and telephones numbers in which the numbers 6 and 9 occur consecutively would have to be banned as well.

"If you allow the government to start chipping away at our constitutional rights, it can have more serious implications in the future," Anaya's attorney Leon Howard said. "Mr. Anaya feels bullied by the MVD."

Anaya has appealed the decision and is awaiting a hearing on the matter.