City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc.

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City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin Inc.
Seal of the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 10, 2021
Full case nameCity of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc., et al.
Docket no.20-1029
Questions presented
Is the city code’s distinction between on- and off-premise signs a facially unconstitutional content-based regulation under Reed?
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch
Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc. is a pending United States Supreme Court case dealing with the application of zoning restrictions on digital billboards in the city of Austin, Texas.

Background[]

Austin is one of 350 cities and towns in Texas that enacted bans related to digital billboards along the sides of highways, generally as a long-term effect of the Highway Beautification Act as well as to avoid distractions for drivers along these highways.[1][2] Austin's city codes includes a Sign Code that distinguishes between signage that is located on-premises, including signs in shop windows and mounted street signs on the property, and those off-premises, like billboards. On-premise signs are generally unregulated and may be updated and improved without any limitations, including improvements to digital signage. Off-premise signage, however, are restricted from such improvements. In addition, the city has banned the installation of new billboards.[3]

Around 2017, two advertising companies that operated static billboard in Austin, Lamar Advantage Outdoor Company and Reagan National Advertising of Austin, sued the city as the city council denied over 80 applications to allow them to convert existing static billboards into digital billboards. The advertising companies contended that the city had allowed some digital signage such as that on the Austin Convention Center, and believed the ban was unconstitutional. They were joined by the Austin Police Association and supporters of local emergency services, believing that such digital billboards could be used to provide information such as Amber Alerts.[3] The case was first filed in a state district court before the city moved it to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in 2017.[2] The district court selected to review the matter under intermediate scrutiny based on Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, rather than the strict scrutiny content-based standard of Reed v. Town of Gilbert, as the off-premise versus on-premise standard was content-neutral. Under this distinction, the District Court ruled for the city.[4] Though the city amended the sign code in 2017 after litigation had started, the changes did not impact the case nor render it moot.[2]

The advertisers appealed to the Fifth Circuit. In October 2020, the Fifth Circuit reversed the District's ruled in favor of the advertisers. The Fifth Circuit used the strict scrutiny standard of Reed to evaluate the city codes, as it determined that because to determine whether a sign was on or off-premises, one had to consider the message it was conveying, and that meant that this was a content-based restriction. Given this assessment, the rationale the city had given to maintain the ban against digital signage – to assure the safety of drivers and maintain the beauty of the landscape – were not sufficient reasons to violate the First Amendment rights of the advertisers, and thus ruled the city's sign code unconstitutional.[3][2]

Supreme Court[]

The city petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit's ruling, stating that the court implied a content-based meaning in the city code that doesn't exist. The Court granted certiorari on June 28, 2021, and the case will be argued during the 2021–22 term.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Burnett, John (June 6, 2014). "In Cities Across Texas, Activists Battle Billboard Companies". NPR. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Autullo, Ryan (November 25, 2020). "Supreme Court may decide Austin billboard battle". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Goard, Alyssa (October 7, 2020). "Austin's battle over digital billboards stands to impact other cities". KXAN. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Rodgers, Jack (June 28, 2021). "Supreme Court Takes Up Battle Over Texas Billboard Rules". Courthouse News. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
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