A Sacramento mother has been ordered by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to surrender a personalized license plate reading "IAMISIS," a decision she says she will fight at a hearing because the plate reflects her given name and a reference to the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Isis Wharton, who obtained the plate in 2022 and said she has paid to renew it each year, told ABC7 she was "confused" and "super hurt" when she received a recent notice from the DMV ordering her to remove the plate. The agency informed her that the configuration "IAMISIS" could be construed as "I am Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)," and cited Section 206 of the California Code of Regulations, which allows the DMV to refuse plates that associate with illegal or violent activity.
Wharton said she first bought the plate for $50 in 2022 and that she had not been told there was a problem when she renewed her registration a few months ago. She said she understands how the configuration may be misconstrued but insisted she was named after the Egyptian goddess Isis and that the plate is a form of personal expression.
The DMV letter ordering removal, which Wharton showed to reporters, told her that "regardless of your intention, the configuration 'IAMISIS' can be construed as 'I am Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).'" The notice informed her she may request a hearing to contest the agency's decision; if she loses the hearing, the DMV will cancel the personalized registration and issue a standard, non-personalized plate.
Wharton said her mother was upset by the order and urged her not to change the plate without contesting the decision. She told ABC7 she plans to request a hearing and to "take on the DMV" to keep the plate on her Kia.
A legal scholar who spoke to local media said the dispute could raise First Amendment questions. Leslie Jacobs, a professor at the McGeorge School of Law, told WFSB that the free speech clause protects individuals expressing their own messages on personalized license plates and that the DMV may face difficulty preventing Wharton from keeping the plate.
The DMV's cited regulation gives the agency discretion to refuse or cancel personalized registrations when a plate configuration is associated with illegal or violent activity. Agency officials did not provide further public comment beyond the notice to Wharton. The case is likely to test how the state's regulatory standards for personalized plates intersect with free speech protections when a configuration may also be read as referencing a well-known terrorist organization.
Wharton said she will pursue the administrative hearing process provided by the DMV. The hearing's timing and location were not immediately reported. If she loses that hearing, the DMV will effect the cancellation and assign a standard plate number under its usual procedures.