Alexandria’s Sign Ordinance Is a No-Go
Letter to the Editor | The Washington Post
If Alexandria officials seem reluctant to defend their city’s 50-year-old ordinance prohibiting “For Sale” signs from being posted in cars parked on the street, there’s a good reason [“Alexandria sued over ticket on car for sale,” Metro, Oct. 29].
Alexandria likely would cite traffic safety and aesthetics as the governmental interests in restricting the First Amendment rights of Scott McLean, who is suing Alexandria over its ordinance. But federal courts have ruled that the burden is squarely on the government to provide evidence to justify restrictions on speech, even speech proposing commercial transactions. Unless Alexandria can prove its speech regulation advances its asserted interests in a direct and material way, the city’s rule is fatally flawed.
A high bar has been set for when the government may interfere with commercial speech. No longer may officials use their personal opinions and subjective attitudes to restrict how Americans communicate with each other, including through the messages embodied in signs.
David Hickey, Alexandria
