INDIANAPOLIS | Hoosier drivers don't have to pay extra to sport In God We Trust license plates, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel upheld the General Assembly's 2006 decision to exempt the newly created plate from the $15 administrative fee Indiana charges on most specialty plates.

The move has been a hit with Hoosier motorists. In God We Trust plates, which also feature an American flag logo, now adorn nearly a third of all passenger vehicles registered in the state and are slightly more popular in Lake and Porter counties.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana brought a lawsuit last year on behalf of Mark Studler, an Allen County resident who paid additional fees for his Environmental Trust license plate. The ACLU argued the In God We Trust slogan constituted a private religious message and therefore should be subject to the fee charged on most advocacy group plates.

"We are not convinced that In God We Trust, our national motto, can be categorized as a purely private message since the license plate can be construed to express either a public or private sense of national citizenship or patriotism in addition to a private expression of religious belief," wrote Judge Margret Robb, who was appointed to the appeals court by former Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles charges a $15 administrative fee on all but a handful of the nearly 80 specialty license plates offered in Indiana. In most cases, another $25 fee is collected to raise money for an organization or cause linked to the plate.

"We argued that there was inequality here because you had to pay a fee for the environmental plate but not for the In God We Trust plate," said Kevin Falk, legal director of the Indiana ACLU. He said it would be up to Studler to decide whether to appeal Monday's ruling.

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said the popularity of the In God We Trust plate demonstrates "deep support" for the nonsecular motto.