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U.S. Supreme Court Holds Local Sign Law Unconstitutional
The significant attention garnered by the United States Supreme Court decisions at the end of its most recent term, relating to such issues as the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage, overshadowed a significant decision relating to freedom of speech. This decision has potentially significant ramifications for municipal regulations throughout the country. In Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 135 S.Ct. 2218 (2015), the Court found that the town's regulation of directional signs was not content-neutral and violated the free speech rights of a local church.
Background
The Town Code requires that permits be obtained for signs, but exempts 23 categories of signs from that requirement. The Court focused on three of those categories, noting the manner in which the local law treated each of these categories differently. The first category, “Ideological Signs,” are those that are defined as communicating noncommercial ideas and are not otherwise within the law's definition of political signs. Ideological Signs are permitted in any zoning district for any length of time and may be up to 20 square feet in size. Next are “Political Signs,” which are defined as a “temporary sign designed to influence the outcome of an election called by a public body ' .” The Court noted that these signs may be up to 16 square feet on residential property and 32 square feet on nonresidential property, vacant municipal property and rights of way. Political Signs may be erected up to 32 days before a primary election and must come down within 15 days after a general election. Id. at 2227
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