The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) announced on April 21, 2022 that the traditional regulatory distinction between on-premises signs and off-premises signs (billboards) is content-neutral under the First Amendment.
Don't Miss this On-Demand Webinar
In this on-demand webinar, we explore whether your community’s sign ordinance is content-neutral enough to withstand federal court scrutiny. Despite the landmark Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) U.S. Supreme Court decision, many local jurisdictions in the United States remain non-compliant and vulnerable to legal challenges and financial penalties. The webinar covers recent federal court interpretations of Reed, including the Austin v. Reagan decision involving billboards and digital signs, and its implications for your community’s sign code. Additionally, it addresses approaches to regulating murals, political signs, and other challenges in achieving content-neutral sign codes. Registrants will receive a complimentary copy of the Sign Research Foundations publication “Content-Neutral Sign Codes After Reed and Austin”
- Price: $10 for ISA members; $15 for non-members
A RECAP OF THE CASE
In City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had found in August 2020 that Austin’s sign ordinance was in violation of the Reed v. Town of Gilbert decision. The city’s sign ordinance allowed on-premise digital signs but prohibited digital billboards. The 5th Circuit decided that the difference in the two types of signs was content-based and therefore unconstitutional.
When the city of Austin appealed the Fifth Circuit’s decision to SCOTUS, ISA joined Scenic Texas and local chambers of commerce in filing a joint amicus brief urging the court to take up Austin’s case. When SCOTUS took ISA’s advice and granted Austin’s petition for certiorari in July 2021, ISA then wrote and submitted another “friend of the court” brief on behalf of the on-premise sign industry arguing that the Court should overturn the 5th Circuit’s decision.
On April 22, 2022, in a 6-3 decision, SCOTUS announced that the traditional regulatory distinction between on-premise signs and off-premise signs (billboards) is content-neutral under the First Amendment.
ISA has long argued that the traditional regulatory distinction between billboards and on-premise signs is location-based, not content-based, and that local governments should have the ability to treat on-premise signs different from billboards if they thought it was best for their communities.
“We submitted our briefs to educate the Court on the practical and legal differences between on-premise signs and billboards, and to point out the importance of on-premise signs to America’s small businesses, and it appears that the justices took our advice to heart,” said David Hickey, ISA’s vice president of advocacy. “Thanks to the Court’s decision in Austin v. Reagan, we will have regulatory certainty across the country and our industry can continue to succeed and grow.”
WHAT ISA IS DOING
ISA has long contended that the traditional regulatory distinction between billboards and on-premises signs is location-based, not content-based, and that local governments should have the ability to treat on-premises signs different from billboards if they thought it was best for their communities.
“We submitted our briefs to educate the Court on the practical and legal differences between on-premises signs and billboards, and to point out the importance of on-premises signs to America’s small businesses, and it appears that the justices took our advice to heart,” said David Hickey, ISA’s vice president of advocacy. “Thanks to the Court’s decision in Austin v. Reagan, we will have regulatory certainty across the country and our industry can continue to succeed and grow.”
While the Reed decision left some issues of sign regulation unanswered, the more focused issue in Austin has so far led to lower federal courts unanimously implementing the Supreme Court’s decision. This includes the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Adams Outdoor v. Madison and the remand decision in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Reagan v. Austin.
Other content-based questions involving sign codes remain, such as whether murals are art or signs, and whether commercial speech deserves the same level of constitutional protection as non-commercial speech.
ISA continues to monitor these legal developments and analyzing what they mean for the sign and graphics industry, and will keep members and the industry informed as we understand the implications more fully.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Research from the Sign Research Foundation
