WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t take up a dispute over whether an image on Oklahoma’s license plates showing an Apache warrior shooting an arrow contains a religious message.
The justices recently let stand a ruling that threw out a pastor’s lawsuit claiming the plates endorse a polytheistic religion.
The image comes from a famous bronze sculpture that depicts an Indian shooting an arrow skyward in hopes that the “spirit world” or “rain god” will answer prayers for rain.
Keith Cressman argued that the “Sacred Rain Arrow” image conveyed a religious message that was an affront to his Christian beliefs. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver last year upheld an Oklahoma federal judge who had dismissed the lawsuit.
- Posted March 15, 2016
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Court won't hear license plate dispute

headlines Macomb
headlines National
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Judge accused of using ‘game or jail’ tactic, asserting abuse victims get ‘Super Bowl’ neurochemicals
- Prosecutor gets suspension for invading jury’s ‘inner sanctum’
- Lateral hiring bounced back in 2024, especially for associates in BigLaw, new NALP report says
- Refugee ban can’t be enforced against those who received conditional approval, 9th Circuit says
- ABA, more than 50 bar associations condemn ‘government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice’