'The Devil is in the Details' of Ninth Circuit's Decision on Municipal Sign Codes

The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 2009 WL 39250233 (9th Cir. 2009) reaffirms the Court’s acceptance that speaker-based and event-based exemptions to municipal sign codes may be a content-neutral regulation. Cities may confidently consider speaker-based and event-based exemptions to sign regulations but should take extreme care in drafting well tailored language.

However, as with all First Amendment inquiries, the devil is in the details. In this case, the aphorism is particularly true of speaker-based and event-based exemptions which are examples of the linguistic contortions often required for regulations to be considered content neutral.