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lawsuit
regulation

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Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., 576 U.S. 155, 135 S.Ct. 2218, 192 L.Ed.2d 236, 83 USLW 4444, 15 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6239, 2015 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6831, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 383

Facts

Good News Community Church and its pastor, Clyde Reed, sought to place temporary signs to announce their church services. The town of Gilbert, Arizona, enforced a sign code that imposed restrictions on the size, duration, and location of these signs. The church was cited for exceeding the time limits for displaying its signs and for not including an event date. After unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue with the town, the church filed a lawsuit claiming that the sign code violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.

Petitioners Good News Community Church (Church) and its pastor, Clyde Reed, wish to advertise the time and location of their Sunday church services. The Church is a small, cash-strapped entity that owns no building, so it holds its services at elementary schools or other locations in or near the Town. In order to inform the public about its services, which are held in a variety of different locations, the Church began placing 15 to 20 temporary signs around the Town, frequently in the public right-of-way abutting the street.

Issue

Did the town's sign code, which imposed restrictions on temporary directional signs, violate the First Amendment's free speech guarantees?

Did the town's sign code, which imposed restrictions on temporary directional signs, violate the First Amendment's free speech guarantees?

Rule

Content-based laws that target speech based on its communicative content are presumptively unconstitutional and may only be justified if the government proves that they are narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests. Laws that are content neutral are subject to lesser scrutiny. The First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting expression based on its message, ideas, subject matter, or content.

Content-based laws that target speech based on its communicative content are presumptively unconstitutional and may only be justified if the government proves that they are narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1.

Analysis

The court determined that the town's sign code was content-based because it imposed different restrictions on signs based on their communicative content. The distinctions made by the code between ideological, political, and temporary directional signs were not content neutral, as they depended on the message conveyed. The town's justifications for the code did not eliminate its content-based nature, and thus the code was subject to strict scrutiny.

The Sign Code is content based on its face. It defines the categories of temporary, political, and ideological signs on the basis of their messages and then subjects each category to different restrictions. The restrictions applied thus depend entirely on the sign's communicative content. Because the Code, on its face, is a content-based regulation of speech, there is no need to consider the government's justifications or purposes for enacting the Code to determine whether it is subject to strict scrutiny.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court held that the town's sign code violated the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment and reversed the lower court's decision.

The Sign Code's provisions are content-based regulations of speech that do not survive strict scrutiny.

Who won?

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Good News Community Church, concluding that the town's sign code was unconstitutional. The court emphasized that the code's content-based restrictions did not survive strict scrutiny, as the town failed to demonstrate that the distinctions made by the code served a compelling governmental interest and were narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Good News Community Church, concluding that the town's sign code was unconstitutional. The court emphasized that the code's content-based restrictions did not survive strict scrutiny, as the town failed to demonstrate that the distinctions made by the code served a compelling governmental interest and were narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.

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