The bill which would make “In God We Trust” mandatory on Tennessee license plates was filed in the General Assembly in January. Two Republicans in Tennessee, Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, were sponsors of the proposed bill. Both the American Civil Liberties Union and American Atheists oppose the legislation. The state’s attorney general, Herbert Slatery III, told legislators that mandating the phrase could be considered unconstitutional.

Slatery concludes that the phrase “clearly has religious overtones” and said such a law may violate both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions, which protect against the government establishment of religion. “An operator of a vehicle that displays a registration plate bearing the phrase “In God We Trust” conveys a message that could be viewed as a religious affirmation of the operator’s belief in the existence of God,” Slatery wrote in his nine-page opinion. The obligation of drivers to have words “In God We Trust” on their cars is unfair just as it would’ve been to put “In God We Don’t Trust” on all the plates.

“In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States, which was adopted as the nation's motto in 1956, at the height of the Cold War against “godless” communism at the same time “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. Advocates of separation of church and state have expressed objections to its use, claiming it is a religious reference that violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and should be removed from coins and currency, but it is still there.

The attorney general cited in his opinion the 1977 Supreme Court decision Wooley v. Maynard, which distinguished between having the phrase on legal tender and requiring it on vehicle tags. “We note that currency, which is passed from hand to hand, differs in significant respects from an automobile, which is readily associated with its operator. Currency is generally carried in a purse or pocket and need not be displayed to the public. The bearer of currency is thus not required to publicly advertise the national motto.”

In addition to being constitutionally suspect, according to the state’s attorney general, the proposed law in its current form would also cost the state over $19 million to manufacture new license plates with the phrase “In God We Trust”, according to the bill’s fiscal note.

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