The United States Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear two cases, one dealing with Confederate flag license plates from Texas and the other dealing with mentally ill death row inmates.

The license plate issue stemmed from a case in Texas, where the state refused to issue a specialty plate with the Confederate flag, which was proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, according to The New York Times.

Texas typically allows many kinds of plates, including ones proposed by various nonprofit groups.

The Motor Vehicles Board said that because the flag is associated, according to public comments, with advocating expressions of hate, it rejected the proposal.

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the state, saying it had violated the First Amendment rights of the organization.

Because the plates are issued by the state, the concern is that it will be seen as a reflection of the state government.

But most federal appeals courts have ruled that specialty plates convey a position of the driver or vehicle owner, rather than that of any government. They are deemed "mobile billboards."

The case also warrants a ruling on whether or not the state discriminated against the viewpoint of the group. Texas argued it should be allowed to reject the license plate designs.

A similar case involving a license plate that read "Choose Life" in Illinois resulted in the state being allowed to turn down the design by a federal court, because the state had denied abortion-related designs overall.

The second case the Supreme Court will decide on involves a mentally ill inmate in Louisiana.

Kevan Brumfield was sentenced to death in 1995 after being found guilty of killing a Baton Rouge police officer. Seven years later, a Virginia case saw the Supreme Court barring the execution of the mentally disabled, which Brumfield hoped to be pardoned under.

Evidence suggested Brumfield did not qualify at the state level court, but a federal trial judge disagreed, and an I.Q. test determined Brumfield's abilities to be limited.

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