The wiring harness to mine had a short and it was blowing fuses every day. So instead of paying $115 for a new harness I popped the trunk, traced the wiring down behind the carpet where it plugs into another harness, and just unplugged it. No problems since.
I have seen one SC where they took the housing completely off put new carpet on the rear deck to make it look like there was never a bulb there in the first place.
I did get stopped one night for it, but in the 3 years I have been running it that way this was the only cop who stopped me. He saw me coming out of a bar one night and I think he was using that as an excuse to stop me. Most cops don't even pay that close attention as long as it has two brake lights, one on either side of your car that function properly they don't seem to care. Sure it might be illegal but most cops have better things to do than count brake lights. The cop didn't even give me a ticket because I explained to him about the wiring harness problem. If I ever go to a junk yard I'll yank a harness but for now its not on my list of priorities.
Plus my windows are tinted so dark you can't even see the 3rd light housing. Both of my SC's are that way. In the 90 I just pulled the bulbs cuz for some reason it'd blow one bulb every month. I got sick of changing them so I pulled them both.