Brag Bowling, First Lieutenant Commander of the Sons Of Confederate Veterans Virginia Division, holds a sample Virginia license plate containing his organization’s logo, which incorporates The Confederate Battle Flag on May 8, 2002 in Richmond, Va. (Photo By Wayne Scarberry/Getty Images)

As calls to remove the Confederate flag from above the state Capitol in Charleston grow louder—including from Gov. Nikki Haley—Virginia’s governor is taking steps to remove the flag from state license plates.

“Although the battle flag is not flown here on Capitol Square, it has been the subject of considerable controversy, and it divides many of our people,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at an event in Richmond today. “Even its display on state issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people.”

When Virginia passed legislation adding specialty license plates for the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1999, they specifically tried to bar the flag emblem from from the design. The group sued on free speech grounds and won the case before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2002.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles didn’t take the case any further. And as of February 2015, the DMV had issued a total of 1,343 Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates have been issued for cars and 259 for motorcycles, according to WAMU.

Last week, however, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas could reject a license plate design with the Confederate flag on the grounds that it represents a form of government speech. That puts the ruling in the Virginia case in question.

McAuliffe instructed Attorney General Mark Herring to “take steps to reverse the prior Court ruling” and tasked Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne with developing a plan to replace the current plates.

“It’s past time to move beyond this divisive symbol, which for so many represents oppression and injustice,” Herring said in a release. “I applaud Governor McAuliffe for his leadership and will work with him and his team to take the steps necessary to remove the Confederate battle flag from Virginia’s license plates.”