“Commercial Speech” – Simplified!
Background:
What’s the issue?
- Sign regulations sometimes limit the size, type, or content of signs in ways that are unreasonable and possibly unconstitutional.
Who’s concerned?
- The sign industry and its customers who rely on effective signage for advertising.
Specific concerns:
- Restrictions that make it hard to read or understand the message on a sign.
- Regulations that target the content of signs, especially commercials.
- Favoritism towards certain types of signs over others.
But what exactly is protected? In a recent case* pertaining to firearms advertising the court elaborated:
“The First Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits laws that abridge the freedom of speech.” Nat’l Inst. of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra, ___ U.S. ___, 138 S. Ct. 2361, 2371, 201 L.Ed.2d 835 (2018). Under the First Amendment, a government “has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., 576 U.S. 155, 163, 135 S.Ct. 2218, 192 L.Ed.2d 236 (2015) (quoting Police Dep’t of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 95, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972)). “Content-based laws—those that target speech based on its communicative content—are presumptively unconstitutional and may be justified only if the government proves that they are narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests.” Id. (citations omitted). “Government regulation of speech is content based if a law applies to particular speech because of the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed.” Id. (citations omitted). In other words, “`content based’ … requires a court to consider whether a regulation of speech `on its face’ draws distinctions based on the message a speaker conveys.” Id. (citing Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., 564 U.S. 552, 565-66, 131 S.Ct. 2653, 180 L.Ed.2d 544 (2011)).
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Sign law expert serving the sign industry and its customers for over 25 years, providing legal and consulting services to sign users, installers and manufacturers. Based in Sacramento, Practice Areas include Zoning; Land Use; Real Estate; Constitutional Law; Employment; & Business. Admitted to the Bar in 1989. Law Offices of Jeffrey L. Aran 1-888-SIGNLAW.