The state of Vermont has ended a years-long legal dispute with a man who has been fighting for the right to display a reference to John 3:16, one of the Bible’s most famous passages on a vanity plate.

The state won’t ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that said Shawn Byrne must be given the license plate “JN36TN,” a reference to John 3:16.

In a settlement dated Monday, the state also agreed to pay Byrne’s $150,000 legal fees and allow other Vermonters to have religious-themed license plates.

The state decided to settle the case because chance of a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court were slim, said Vermont Assistant Attorney General Bridget Asay. “They receive thousands of requests a year and only grant 1 percent of them.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Thomas McCormick, who represents the Department of Motor Vehicles, said the order for Byrne’s license plate was placed this week. He said he didn’t know how long it would take for the order to be filled.

Byrne did not return a call Friday seeking comment.

“This really is a great victory for free speech,” said Jeremy Tedesco, the general council for the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which represented Byrne.

In April 2004 Byrne asked the DMV for a vanity plate for his Ford pickup. He gave three choices, all variations on themes referring to John 3:16.

Read more: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2011/01/vt-wont-appeal-religious-vanity-plate-decision#ixzz1BO1gKRfn [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]