The Confederate battle flag is once again at the heart of a free-speech dispute, this time because the Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is fighting a decision by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to reject a specialty license plate featuring the banner, the Associated Press reported.

The group has sued Texas over the DMV's decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court will now decide whether the state has the right to refuse to issue the plates; the justices of the nation's highest tribunal are set to hear arguments in the case on Monday.

Eight other states that were members of the Confederacy, as well as Maryland, all offer specialty license plate that feature the emblem, properly known as "the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia." To many, the banner represents Southern pride, while others reject it as a symbol of racism, Reuters noted.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans say the license plate would help preserve the "history and legacy" of soldiers who fought for the pro-slavery Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. Their design features the flag -- a blue cross inlaid with white stars over a red background - surrounded by the words "Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896."

The Texas DMV's rejection of their proposal violated members' free speech rights, the group argued, since the state offers more than than 350 other varieties of plates, according to the AP; their messages include "Choose Life," "God Bless Texas" and "Fight Terrorism," as well as imagery celebrating Dr. Pepper, burritos and burger chains.

The American Civil Liberties Union, anti-abortion groups, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, civil libertarian Nat Hentoff and conservative satirist P.J. O'Rourke all back the Sons of Confederate Veterans' arguments.

"In a free society, offensive speech should not just be tolerated, its regular presence should be celebrated as a symbol of democratic health -- however odorous the products of a democracy may be," Hentoff, O'Rourke and others said in a joint statement.

Texas, meanwhile, argues that messages that appear on license plates are government speech and thus do not restrict an individual's right to free expression guaranteed by the Constitution's First Amendment. A panel of federal appeals court judges, however, disagreed.

"We understand that some members of the public find the Confederate flag offensive," Judge Edward Prado of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans wrote. "But that fact does justify the (DMV) board's decision."