AUSTIN (December 8, 2011)--The Sons of Confederate Veterans has filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board for denying its proposed specialty license plate displaying the Confederate battle flag.

The board rejected the specialty plate 8-0 last month after Gov. Rick Perry said on the presidential campaign trail that he opposed it.

The Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Austin against the eight DMV board members who voted, arguing its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated.

The DMV says it has yet to see the complaint.

Nine other states have approved Sons of Confederate Veterans' specialty plates, but Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina only did so after the group sued.

A similar suit is pending in Florida.