Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/466/789/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 14:19:38+00:00

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Members of the City Council of the City of Los Angeles v.
Section 28.04 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code prohibits the posting of signs on public property. Appellee Taxpayers for Vincent, a group of supporters of a candidate for election to the Los Angeles City Council, entered into a contract with appellee Candidates' Outdoor Graphics Service (COGS) to fabricate and post signs with the candidate's name on them. COGS produced cardboard signs and attached them to utility pole crosswires at various locations. Acting under § 28.04, city employees routinely removed all posters (including the COGS signs) attached to utility poles and similar objects covered by the ordinance. Appellees then filed suit in Federal District Court against appellants, the city and various city officials (hereafter City), alleging that § 28.04 abridged appellees' freedom of speech within the meaning of the First Amendment, and seeking damages and injunctive relief. The District Court entered findings of fact, concluded that § 28.04 was constitutional, and granted the City's motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals reversed, reasoning that the ordinance was presumptively unconstitutional because significant First Amendment interests were involved, and that the City had not justified its total ban on all signs on the basis of its asserted interests in preventing visual clutter, minimizing traffic hazards, and preventing interference with the intended use of public property.
1. The "overbreadth" doctrine is not applicable here. There is nothing in the record to indicate that § 28.04 will have any different impact on any third parties' interests in free speech than it has on appellees' interests, and appellees have failed to identify any significant difference between their claim that § 28.04 is invalid on overbreadth grounds and their claim that it is unconstitutional when applied to their signs during a political campaign. Thus, it is inappropriate to entertain an overbreadth challenge to § 28.04. Pp. 466 U. S. 796-803.
2. Section 28.04 is not unconstitutional as applied to appellees' expressive activity. Pp. 466 U. S. 803-817.
at the expense of others is not applicable here. Section 28.04's text is neutral -- indeed it is silent -- concerning any speaker's point of view, and the District Court's findings indicate that it has been applied to appellees and others in an evenhanded manner. It is within the City's constitutional power to attempt to improve its appearance, and this interest is basically unrelated to the suppression of ideas. Cf. United States v. O'Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 391 U. S. 377. Pp. 466 U. S. 803-805.
(b) Municipalities have a weighty, essentially esthetic interest in proscribing intrusive and unpleasant formats for expression. The problem addressed by § 28.04 -- the visual assault on the citizens of Los Angeles presented by an accumulation of signs posted on public property -- constitutes a significant substantive evil within the City's power to prohibit. Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U. S. 490. Pp. 466 U. S. 805-807.
(c) Section 28.04 curtails no more speech than is necessary to accomplish its purpose of eliminating visual clutter. By banning posted signs, the City did no more than eliminate the exact source of the evil it sought to remedy. The rationale of Schneider v. State, 308 U. S. 147, which held that ordinances that absolutely prohibited handbilling on public streets and sidewalks were invalid, is inapposite in the context of the instant case. Pp. 466 U. S. 808-810.
(d) The validity of the City's esthetic interest in the elimination of signs on public property is not compromised by failing to extend the ban to private property. The private citizen's interest in controlling the use of his own property justifies the disparate treatment, and there is no predicate in the District Court's findings for the conclusion that the prohibition against the posting of appellees' signs fails to advance the City's esthetic interest. Pp. 466 U. S. 810-812.
(e) While a restriction on expressive activity may be invalid if the remaining modes of communication are inadequate, § 28.04 does not affect any individual's freedom to exercise the right to speak and to distribute literature in the same place where the posting of signs on public property is prohibited. The District Court's findings indicate that there are ample alternative modes of communication in Los Angeles. P. 466 U. S. 812.
effort to suppress expression merely because public officials oppose the speaker's view. Pp. 466 U. S. 813-815.
(g) Although plausible policy arguments might well be made in support of appellees' suggestion that the City could have written an ordinance that would have had a less severe effect on expressive activity like theirs -- such as by providing an exception for political campaign signs -- it does not follow that such an exception is constitutionally mandated, nor is it clear that some of the suggested exceptions would even be constitutionally permissible. To create an exception for appellees' political speech and not other types of protected speech might create a risk of engaging in constitutionally forbidden content discrimination. The City may properly decide that the esthetic interest in avoiding visual clutter justifies a removal of all signs creating or increasing that clutter. Pp. 466 U. S. 815-817.
682 F.2d 847, reversed and remanded.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, POWELL, REHNQUIST, and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined, post, p. 466 U. S. 818.
which support the poles and stapling the cardboard together at the bottom. The signs' message was: "Roland Vincent -- City Council."
On March 12, 1979, Taxpayers and COGS filed this action in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, naming the city, the Director of the Bureau of Street Maintenance, and members of the City Council as defendants. [Footnote 4] They sought an injunction against enforcement of the ordinance, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. After engaging in discovery, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of liability. The District Court entered findings of fact, concluded that the ordinance was constitutional, and granted the City's motion.
"would add somewhat to the blight and inevitably would encourage greatly increased posting in other unauthorized and unsightly places. . . . [Footnote 7]"
exercising their free speech rights on the public streets and in other public places; they remain free to picket and parade, to distribute handbills, to carry signs and to post their signs and handbills on their automobiles and on private property with the permission of the owners thereof. [Footnote 9]"
In its conclusions of law, the District Court characterized the esthetic and economic interests in improving the beauty of the City "by eliminating clutter and visual blight" as "legitimate and compelling." [Footnote 10] Those interests, together with the interest in protecting the safety of workmen who must scale utility poles and the interest in eliminating traffic hazards, adequately supported the sign prohibition as a reasonable regulation affecting the time, place, and manner of expression.
In its appeal to this Court, the City challenges the Court of Appeals' holding that § 28.04 is unconstitutional on its face. Taxpayers and COGS defend that holding, and also contend that the ordinance is unconstitutional as applied to their posting of political campaign signs on the crosswires of utility poles. There are two quite different ways in which a statute or ordinance may be considered invalid "on its face" -- either because it is unconstitutional in every conceivable application or because it seeks to prohibit such a broad range of protected conduct that it is unconstitutionally "overbroad." We shall analyze the "facial" challenges to the ordinance, and then address its specific application to appellees.
The seminal cases in which the Court held state legislation unconstitutional "on its face" did not involve any departure from the general rule that a litigant only has standing to vindicate his own constitutional rights. In Stromberg v. California, 283 U. S. 359 (1931), [Footnote 12] and Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U.S.
could never be applied in a valid manner. Such holdings [Footnote 15] invalidated entire statutes, but did not create any exception from the general rule that constitutional adjudication requires a review of the application of a statute to the conduct of the party before the Court.
"a judicial prediction or assumption that the statute's very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression."
Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601, 413 U. S. 612 (1973).
In the development of the overbreadth doctrine, the Court has been sensitive to the risk that the doctrine itself might sweep so broadly that the exception to ordinary standing requirements would swallow the general rule. In order to decide whether the overbreadth exception is applicable in a particular case, we have weighed the likelihood that the statute's very existence will inhibit free expression.
statute must not only be real, but substantial as well, judged in relation to the statute's plainly legitimate sweep."
The concept of "substantial overbreadth" is not readily reduced to an exact definition. It is clear, however, that the mere fact that one can conceive of some impermissible applications of a statute is not sufficient to render it susceptible to an overbreadth challenge. [Footnote 19] On the contrary, the requirement of substantial overbreadth stems from the underlying justification for the overbreadth exception itself -- the interest in preventing an invalid statute from inhibiting the speech of third parties who are not before the Court.
has the potential to repeatedly chill the exercise of expressive activity by many individuals, the extent of deterrence of protected speech can be expected to decrease with the declining reach of the regulation."
New York v. Ferber, 458 U. S. 747, 458 U. S. 772 (1982) (footnote omitted).
In short, there must be a realistic danger that the statute itself will significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections of parties not before the Court for it to be facially challenged on overbreadth grounds. See Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205, 422 U. S. 216 (1975). See also Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U. S. 447, 436 U. S. 462, n. 20 (1978); Parker v. Levy, 417 U. S. 733, 417 U. S. 760-761 (1974).
The Court of Appeals concluded that the ordinance was vulnerable to an overbreadth challenge because it was an "overinclusive" response to traffic concerns, and not the "least drastic means" of preventing interference with the normal use of public property. This conclusion rested on an evaluation of the assumed effect of the ordinance on third parties, rather than on any specific consideration of the impact of the ordinance on the parties before the court. This is not, however, an appropriate case to entertain a facial challenge based on overbreadth. For we have found nothing in the record to indicate that the ordinance will have any different impact on any third parties' interests in free speech than it has on Taxpayers and COGS.
position with respect to utility poles is not entirely clear, but they do contend that it is unconstitutional to prohibit the attachment of their cardboard signs to the horizontal crosswires supporting utility poles during a political campaign. They have, in short, failed to identify any significant difference between their claim that the ordinance is invalid on overbreadth grounds and their claim that it is unconstitutional when applied to their political signs. Specifically, Taxpayers and COGS have not attempted to demonstrate that the ordinance applies to any conduct more likely to be protected by the First Amendment than their own crosswire signs. Indeed, the record suggests that many of the signs posted in violation of the ordinance are posted in such a way that they may create safety or traffic problems that COGS has tried to avoid. Accordingly, on this record, it appears that, if the ordinance may be validly applied to COGS, it can be validly applied to most if not all of the signs of parties not before the Court. Appellees have simply failed to demonstrate a realistic danger that the ordinance will significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections of individuals not before the Court. It would therefore be inappropriate in this case to entertain an overbreadth challenge to the ordinance.
The ordinance prohibits appellees from communicating with the public in a certain manner, and presumably diminishes the total quantity of their communication in the City. [Footnote 23] The application of the ordinance to appellees' expressive activities surely raises the question whether the ordinance abridges their "freedom of speech" within the meaning of the First Amendment, and appellees certainly have standing to challenge the application of the ordinance to their own expressive activities.
First Amendment issue is not necessarily to say that it constitutes a First Amendment violation."
Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 561 (BURGER, C.J., dissenting). It has been clear since this Court's earliest decisions concerning the freedom of speech that the state may sometimes curtail speech when necessary to advance a significant and legitimate state interest. Schenck v. United States, 249 U. S. 47, 249 U. S. 52 (1919).
As Stromberg and Lovell demonstrate, there are some purported interests -- such as a desire to suppress support for a minority party or an unpopular cause, or to exclude the expression of certain points of view from the marketplace of ideas -- that are so plainly illegitimate that they would immediately invalidate the rule. The general principle that has emerged from this line of cases is that the First Amendment forbids the government to regulate speech in ways that favor some viewpoints or ideas at the expense of others. See Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U. S. 60, 463 U. S. 65, 463 U. S. 72 (1983); Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Service Comm'n, 447 U. S. 530, 447 U. S. 535-536 (1980); Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455, 447 U. S. 462-463 (1980); Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U. S. 50, 427 U. S. 63-65, 427 U. S. 67-68 (1976) (plurality opinion); Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 408 U. S. 95-96 (1972).
That general rule has no application to this case. For there is not even a hint of bias or censorship in the City's enactment or enforcement of this ordinance. There is no claim that the ordinance was designed to suppress certain ideas that the City finds distasteful or that it has been applied to appellees because of the views that they express. The text of the ordinance is neutral -- indeed, it is silent -- concerning any speaker's point of view, and the District Court's findings indicate that it has been applied to appellees and others in an evenhanded manner.
"The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive. The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary."
Id. at 348 U. S. 33 (citation omitted). See also Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U. S. 104, 438 U. S. 129 (1978); Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U. S. 1, 416 U. S. 9 (1974); Euclid v. Ambler Co., 272 U. S. 365, 272 U. S. 387-388 (1926); Welch v. Swasey, 214 U. S. 91, 214 U. S. 108 (1909).
In this case, taxpayers and COGS do not dispute that it is within the constitutional power of the City to attempt to improve its appearance, or that this interest is basically unrelated to the suppression of ideas. Therefore the critical inquiries are whether that interest is sufficiently substantial to justify the effect of the ordinance on appellees' expression, and whether that effect is no greater than necessary to accomplish the City's purpose.
In Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U. S. 77 (1949), the Court rejected the notion that a city is powerless to protect its citizens from unwanted exposure to certain methods of expression which may legitimately be deemed a public nuisance.
In upholding an ordinance that prohibited loud and raucous sound trucks, the Court held that the State had a substantial interest in protecting its citizens from unwelcome noise. [Footnote 24] In Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights, 418 U. S. 298 (1974), the Court upheld the city's prohibition of political advertising on its buses, stating that the city was entitled to protect unwilling viewers against intrusive advertising that may interfere with the city's goal of making its buses "rapid, convenient, pleasant, and inexpensive," id. at 418 U. S. 302-303 (plurality opinion). See also id. at 418 U. S. 307 (Douglas, J., concurring in judgment); Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. at 422 U. S. 209, and n. 5. These cases indicate that the municipalities have a weighty, essentially esthetic interest in proscribing intrusive and unpleasant formats for expression.
We reaffirm the conclusion of the majority in Metromedia. The problem addressed by this ordinance -- the visual assault on the citizens of Los Angeles presented by an accumulation of signs posted on public property -- constitutes a significant substantive evil within the City's power to prohibit. "[T]he city's interest in attempting to preserve [or improve] the quality of urban life is one that must be accorded high respect." Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. at 427 U. S. 71 (plurality opinion).
"It is not speculative to recognize that billboards, by their very nature, wherever located and however constructed, can be perceived as an 'esthetic harm.'"
453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 510. The same is true of posted signs.
in avoiding litter without abridging protected expression merely by penalizing those who actually litter. See id. at 308 U. S. 162. Taxpayers contend that their interest in supporting Vincent's political campaign, which affords them a constitutional right to distribute brochures and leaflets on the public streets of Los Angeles, provides equal support for their asserted right to post temporary signs on objects adjacent to the streets and sidewalks. They argue that the mere fact that their temporary signs "add somewhat" to the city's visual clutter is entitled to no more weight than the temporary unsightliness of discarded handbills and the additional streetcleaning burden that were insufficient to justify the ordinances reviewed in Schneider.
"deprive a municipality of power to enact regulations against throwing literature broadcast in the streets. Prohibition of such conduct would not abridge the constitutional liberty, since such activity bears no necessary relationship to the freedom to speak, write, print or distribute information or opinion."
"carries with him there as elsewhere the constitutional right to express his views in an orderly fashion. This right extends to the communication of ideas by handbills and literature, as well as by the spoken word."
Jamison v. Texas, 318 U. S. 413, 318 U. S. 416 (1943); see also Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U. S. 559, 379 U. S. 578 (1965) (Black, J., dissenting in part).
With respect to signs posted by appellees, however, it is the tangible medium of expressing the message that has the adverse impact on the appearance of the landscape. In Schneider, an antilittering statute could have addressed the substantive evil without prohibiting expressive activity, whereas application of the prophylactic rule actually employed gratuitously infringed upon the right of an individual to communicate directly with a willing listener. Here, the substantive evil -- visual blight -- is not merely a possible byproduct of the activity, but is created by the medium of expression itself. In contrast to Schneider, therefore, the application of the ordinance in this case responds precisely to the substantive problem which legitimately concerns the City. The ordinance curtails no more speech than is necessary to accomplish its purpose.
The Court of Appeals accepted the argument that a prohibition against the use of unattractive signs cannot be justified on esthetic grounds if it fails to apply to all equally unattractive signs wherever they might be located. A comparable argument was categorically rejected in Metromedia. In that case, it was argued that the city could not simultaneously permit billboards to be used for on-site advertising and also justify the prohibition against off-site advertising on esthetic grounds, since both types of advertising were equally unattractive.
The Court held, however, that the city could reasonably conclude that the esthetic interest was outweighed by the countervailing interest in one kind of advertising, even though it was not outweighed by the other. [Footnote 28] So here, the validity of the esthetic interest in the elimination of signs on public property is not compromised by failing to extend the ban to private property. The private citizen's interest in controlling the use of his own property justifies the disparate treatment. Moreover, by not extending the ban to all locations, a significant opportunity to communicate by means of temporary signs is preserved, and private property owners' esthetic concerns will keep the posting of signs on their property within reasonable bounds. Even if some visual blight remains, a partial, content-neutral ban may nevertheless enhance the City's appearance.
the conclusion that the prohibition against the posting of appellees' signs fails to advance the City's esthetic interest.
Appellees suggest that the public property covered by the ordinance either is itself a "public forum" for First Amendment purposes or at least should be treated in the same respect as the "public forum" in which the property is located. "Traditional public forum property occupies a special position in terms of First Amendment protection," United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. at 461 U. S. 180, and appellees maintain that their sign-posting activities are entitled to this protection.
good order; but it must not, in the guise of regulation, be abridged or denied."
See also Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 115; Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U. S. 147, 394 U. S. 152 (1969); Kunz v. New York, 340 U. S. 290, 340 U. S. 293 (1951); Schneider v. State, 308 U.S. at 308 U. S. 163.
"the First Amendment does not guarantee access to government property simply because it is owned or controlled by the government."
existence of a right of access to public property and the standard by which limitations upon such a right must be evaluated differ depending on the character of the property at issue.
Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U. S. 37, 460 U. S. 44 (1983).
might well be made in support of any such exception, but it by no means follows that it is therefore constitutionally mandated, cf. Singer v. United States, 380 U. S. 24, 380 U. S. 34-35 (1965), nor is it clear that some of the suggested exceptions would even be constitutionally permissible. For example, even though political speech is entitled to the fullest possible measure of constitutional protection, there are a host of other communications that command the same respect. An assertion that "Jesus Saves," that "Abortion is Murder," that every woman has the "Right to Choose," or that "Alcohol Kills" may have a claim to a constitutional exemption from the ordinance that is just as strong as "Roland Vincent -- City Council." See Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U. S. 209, 431 U. S. 231-232 (1977). [Footnote 33] To create an exception for appellees' political speech and not these other types of speech might create a risk of engaging in constitutionally forbidden content discrimination. See, e.g., Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455 (1980); Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92 (1972). Moreover, the volume of permissible postings under such a mandated exemption might so limit the ordinance's effect as to defeat its aim of combating visual blight.
a removal of signs creating or increasing that clutter. The findings of the District Court that COGS signs add to the problems addressed by the ordinance and, if permitted to remain, would encourage others to post additional signs, are sufficient to justify application of the ordinance to these appellees.
"Sec. 28.04. Hand-bills, signs -- public places and objects:"
"(a) No person shall paint, mark or write on, or post or otherwise affix any hand-bill or sign to or upon any sidewalk, crosswalk, curb, curbstone, street lamp post, hydrant, tree, shrub, tree stake or guard, railroad trestle, electric light or power or telephone or telegraph or trolley wire pole, or wire appurtenance thereof or upon any fixture of the fire alarm or police telegraph system or upon any lighting system, public bridge, drinking fountain, life buoy, life preserver, life boat or other life saving equipment, street sign or traffic sign."
"(b) Nothing in this section contained shall apply to the installation of terrazzo sidewalks or sidewalks of similar construction, sidewalks permanently colored by an admixture in the material of which the same are constructed, and for which the Board of Public Works has granted a written permit."
"(c) Any hand-bill or sign found posted, or otherwise affixed upon any public property contrary to the provisions of this section may be removed by the Police Department or the Department of Public Works. The person responsible for any such illegal posting shall be liable for the cost incurred in the removal thereof and the Department of Public Works is authorized to effect the collection of said cost."
"(d) Nothing in this section shall apply to the installation of a metal plaque or plate or individual letters or figures in a sidewalk commemorating an historical, cultural, or artistic event, location or personality for which the Board of Public Works, with the approval of the Council, has granted a written permit."
"(e) Nothing in this section shall apply to the painting of house numbers upon curbs done under permits issued by the Board of Public Works under and in accordance with the provisions of Section 62.96 of this Code."
The First Amendment provides: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . ." Under the Fourteenth Amendment, city ordinances are within the scope of this limitation on governmental authority. Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 444 (1938).
For convenience, we shall refer to these parties as simply as the "City."
"The Los Angeles Planning and Zoning Code was enacted in part to encourage the most appropriate use of land; to conserve and stabilize the value of property; to provide adequate open spaces for light and air; to prevent and fight fire; to lessen congestion on streets; to facilitate adequate provisions for community utilities and facilities and to promote health, safety, and the general welfare, all in accordance with a comprehensive plan."
Finding 11, App. to Juris.Statement 17a.
"The large number of signs illegally posted on the items of public and utility property enumerated in Section 28.04 constitute a clutter and visual blight. The posting of signs on utility pole cross wires for which the plaintiffs [seek] authorization would add somewhat to the blight and inevitably would encourage greatly increased posting in other unauthorized and unsightly places by people not aware of the distinction the plaintiffs seek to make."
Finding 17, App. to Juris.Statement 18a.
Finding 18, App. to Juris.Statement 18a.
Conclusion of Law No. 5, App. to Juris.Statement 19a.
Nevertheless, the court acknowledged that, should subsequent experience with a less comprehensive prohibition prove ineffective in achieving the City's goals, it might reenact the very ordinance the court had just struck down. As authority for this procedure, the court cited Ratner, The Function of the Due Process Clause, 116 U.Pa.L.Rev. 1048, 1110-1111 (1968).
"The maintenance of the opportunity for free political discussion to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes may be obtained by lawful means, an opportunity essential to the security of the Republic, is a fundamental principle of our constitutional system. A statute which, upon its face and as authoritatively construed, is so vague and indefinite as to permit the punishment of the fair use of this opportunity is repugnant to the guaranty of liberty contained in the Fourteenth Amendment. The . . . statute being invalid upon its face, the conviction of the appellant . . . must be set aside."
283 U.S. at 283 U. S. 369-370.
"We think that the ordinance is invalid on its face. Whatever the motive which induced its adoption, its character is such that it strikes at the very foundation of the freedom of the press by subjecting it to license and censorship. The struggle for the freedom of the press was primarily directed against the power of the licensor. It was against that power that John Milton directed his assault by his 'Appeal for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing.' And the liberty of the press became initially a right to publish 'without a license what formerly could be published only with one.' While this freedom from previous restraint upon publication cannot be regarded as exhausting the guaranty of liberty, the prevention of that restraint was a leading purpose in the adoption of the constitutional provision."
303 U.S. at 303 U. S. 451-462 (footnote omitted).
Subsequent cases have continued to employ facial invalidation where it was found that every application of the statute created an impermissible risk of suppression of ideas. See Saia v. New York, 334 U. S. 558 (1948) (ordinance prohibited use of loudspeaker in public places without permission of the chief of police, whose discretion was unlimited); Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296 (1940) (ordinance required license to distribute religious literature without standards for the exercising of licensing discretion); Schneider v. State, 308 U. S. 147 (1939) (ordinances prohibited distributing leaflets without a license and provided no standards for issuance of licenses); Hague v. CIO, 307 U. S. 496, 307 U. S. 516 (1939) (plurality opinion) (statute permitted city to deny permit for a public demonstration subject only to the uncontrolled discretion of the director of public safety).
"It is not merely the sporadic abuse of power by the censor, but the pervasive threat inherent in its very existence that constitutes the danger to freedom of discussion. One who might have had a license for the asking may therefor call into question the whole scheme of licensing when he is prosecuted for failure to procure it. A like threat is inherent in a penal statute, like that in question here, which does not aim specifically at evils within the allowable area of state control but, on the contrary, sweeps within its ambit other activities that in ordinary circumstances constitute an exercise of freedom of speech or of the press. The existence of such a statute, which readily lends itself to harsh and discriminatory enforcement by local prosecuting officials, against particular groups deemed to merit their displeasure, results in a continuous and pervasive restraint on all freedom of discussion that might reasonably be regarded as within its purview."
310 U.S. at 310 U. S. 97-98 (citation omitted).
"At least when statutes regulate or proscribe speech and when 'no readily apparent construction suggests itself as a vehicle for rehabilitating the statutes in a single prosecution,' Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479, 380 U. S. 491 (1965), the transcendent value to all society of constitutionally protected expression is deemed to justify allowing"
"attacks on overly broad statutes with no requirement that the person making the attack demonstrate that his own conduct could not be regulated by a statute drawn with the requisite narrow specificity,"
"id. at 380 U. S. 486. This is deemed necessary because persons whose expression is constitutionally protected may well refrain from exercising their rights for fear of criminal sanctions provided by a statute susceptible of application to protected expression."
Id. at 405 U. S. 520-521 (citations omitted). See also e.g., Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479, 380 U. S. 494 (1965).
See also CSC v. Letter Carriers, 413 U. S. 548, 413 U. S. 580-581 (1973).
"We have never held that a statute should be held invalid on its face merely because it is possible to conceive of a single impermissible application, and in that sense, a requirement of substantial overbreadth is already implicit in the doctrine."
Broadrick, 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 630 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting).
"Simply put, the doctrine asserts that an overbroad regulation of speech or publication may be subject to facial review and invalidation, even though its application in the instant case is constitutionally unobjectionable. Thus, a person whose activity could validly be suppressed under a more narrowly drawn law is allowed to challenge an overbroad law because of its application to others. The bare possibility of unconstitutional application is not enough; the law is unconstitutionally overbroad only if it reaches substantially beyond the permissible scope of legislative regulation. Thus, the issue under the overbreadth doctrine is whether a government restriction of speech that is arguably valid as applied to the case at hand should nevertheless be invalidated to avoid the substantial prospect of unconstitutional application elsewhere."
Jeffries, Rethinking Prior Restraint, 92 Yale L.J. 409, 425 (1983) (emphasis supplied).
However, where the statute unquestionably attaches sanctions to protected conduct, the likelihood that the statute will deter that conduct is ordinarily sufficiently great to justify an overbreadth attack. Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205, 422 U. S. 217 (1975).
"No COGS signs are posted on sidewalk surfaces, streetlamp posts, hydrants, trees, shrubs, treestacks or guards, vertical utility poles, fire alarm or police telegraph systems, drinking fountains, lifebuoys, life preservers, lifesaving equipment or street or traffic signs."
The fact that the ordinance is capable of valid applications does not necessarily mean that it is valid as applied to these litigants. We may not simply assume that the ordinance will always advance the asserted state interests sufficiently to justify its abridgment of expressive activity. Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U. S. 829, 435 U. S. 844 (1978). See also Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Committee, 459 U. S. 87, 459 U. S. 96-98 (1983); In re Primus, 436 U. S. 412, 436 U. S. 433-438 (1978); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 424 U. S. 45-48 68-74 (1976) (per curiam); Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 408 U. S. 100-101 (1972); Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557, 394 U. S. 566-567 (1969); United States v. Robel, 389 U. S. 258, 389 U. S. 264, 389 U. S. 267 (1967); Mine Workers v. Illinois Bar Assn., 389 U. S. 217, 389 U. S. 222-223 (1967); NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U. S. 449, 357 U. S. 462-465 (1968).
"The unwilling listener is not like the passer-by who may be offered a pamphlet in the street, but cannot be made to take it. In his home or on the street, he is practically helpless to escape this interference with his privacy by loud speakers except through the protection of the municipality."
"City streets are recognized as a normal place for the exchange of ideas by speech or paper. But this does not mean the freedom is beyond all control. We think it is a permissible exercise of legislative discretion to bar sound trucks with broadcasts of public interest, amplified to a loud and raucous volume, from the public ways of municipalities. On the business streets of cities like Trenton, with its more than 125,000 people, such distractions would be dangerous to traffic at all hours useful for the dissemination of information, and in the residential thoroughfares the quiet and tranquility so desirable for city dwellers would likewise be at the mercy of advocates of particular religious, social or political persuasions. We cannot believe that rights of free speech compel a municipality to allow such mechanical voice amplification on any of its streets."
336 U.S. at 336 U. S. 86-87 (plurality opinion). A majority of the Court agreed with this analysis. See id. at 336 U. S. 96-97 (Frankfurter, J., concurring); id. at 336 U. S. 97-98 (Jackson, J., concurring).
The Court of Appeals relied on JUSTICE BRENNAN's opinion concurring in the judgment in Metromedia to support its conclusion that the City's interest in esthetics was not sufficiently substantial to outweigh the constitutional interest in free expression unless the City proved that it had undertaken a comprehensive and coordinated effort to remove other elements of visual clutter within San Diego. This reliance was misplaced, because JUSTICE BRENNAN's analysis was expressly rejected by a majority of the Court. Moreover, JUSTICE BRENNAN was concerned that the San Diego ordinance might not, in fact, have a substantial salutary effect on the appearance of the city because it did not ameliorate other types of visual clutter beside billboards, see 453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 530-534, thus suggesting that, in fact, it had been applied to areas where it did not advance the interest in esthetics sufficiently to justify an abridgment of speech.
Similarly, THE CHIEF JUSTICE wrote that a city has the power to regulate visual clutter in much the same manner that it can regulate any other feature of its environment: "Pollution is not limited to the air we breathe and the water we drink; it can equally offend the eye and ear." Id. at 453 U. S. 561 (dissenting opinion).
In Metromedia, a majority of the Court concluded that a prohibition on billboards was narrowly tailored to the visual evil San Diego sought to correct. See 453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 510-512 (plurality opinion); id. at 453 U. S. 549-553 (STEVENS, J., dissenting in part); id. at 453 U. S. 560-561 (BURGER, C.J., dissenting); id. at 453 U. S. 570 (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting).
"In the first place, whether on-site advertising is permitted or not, the prohibition of off-site advertising is directly related to the stated objectives of traffic safety and esthetics. This is not altered by the fact that the ordinance is underinclusive because it permits on-site advertising."
453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 511.
"Third, San Diego has obviously chosen to value one kind of commercial speech -- on-site advertising -- more than another kind of commercial speech -- off-site advertising. The ordinance reflects a decision by the city that the former interest, but not the latter, is stronger than the city's interests in traffic safety and esthetics. The city has decided that, in a limited instance -- on-site commercial advertising -- its interests should yield. We do not reject that judgment."
Id. at 453 U. S. 512. THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE REHNQUIST, and JUSTICE STEVENS agreed with the plurality on this point. Id. at 453 U. S. 541 (STEVENS, J., dissenting in part); id. at 453 U. S. 563-564 (BURGER, C.J., dissenting); id. at 453 U. S. 570 (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting).
Cf. Schneider v. State, 308 U.S. at 308 U. S. 163 ("[O]ne is not to have the exercise of his liberty of expression in appropriate places abridged on the plea that it may be exercised in some other place").
Although the Court has shown special solicitude for forms of expression that are much less expensive than feasible alternatives and hence may be important to a large segment of the citizenry, see, e.g., Martin v. Struthers, 319 U. S. 141, 319 U. S. 146 (1943) ("Door to door distribution of circulars is essential to the poorly financed causes of little people"), this solicitude has practical boundaries, see, e.g., Kovac v. Cooper, 336 U. S. 77, 336 U. S. 88-89 (1949) ("That more people may be more easily and cheaply reached by sound trucks . . . is not enough to call forth constitutional protection for what those charged with public welfare reasonably think is a nuisance when easy means of publicity are open"). See also Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 549-550 (STEVENS, J., dissenting in part) (ban on graffiti constitutionally permissible even though some creators of graffiti may have no equally effective alternative means of public expression).
"no less than a private owner of property, has power to preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated."
Adderley v. Florida, 385 U. S. 39, 385 U. S. 47 (1966).
"the analytical line between a regulation of the 'time, place, and manner' in which First Amendment rights may be exercised in a traditional public forum, and the question of whether a particular piece of personal or real property owned or controlled by the government is in fact a 'public forum' may blur at the edges,"
United States Postal Service v. Greenburgh Civic Assns., 453 U. S. 114, 453 U. S. 132 (1981), and this is particularly true in cases falling between the paradigms of government property interests essentially mirroring analogous private interests and those clearly held in trust, either by tradition or recent convention, for the use of citizens at large.
See generally Mine Workers v. Illinois State Bar Assn., 389 U. S. 217, 389 U. S. 223 (1967).
The plurality opinion in Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U. S. 490 (1981), concluded that the City of San Diego could, consistently with the First Amendment, restrict the commercial use of billboards in order to "preserve and improve the appearance of the City." Id. at 453 U. S. 493. Today, the Court sustains the constitutionality of Los Angeles' similarly motivated ban on the posting of political signs on public property. Because the Court's lenient approach towards the restriction of speech for reasons of aesthetics threatens seriously to undermine the protections of the First Amendment, I dissent.
The Court finds that the City's "interest [in eliminating visual clutter] is sufficiently substantial to justify the effect of the ordinance on appellees' expression," and that the effect of the ordinance on speech is "no greater than necessary to accomplish the City's purpose." Ante at 466 U. S. 805. These are the right questions to consider when analyzing the constitutionality of the challenged ordinance, see Metromedia, supra, at 453 U. S. 525-527 (BRENNAN, J., concurring in judgment); Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U. S. 640, 452 U. S. 656 (1981) (BRENNAN, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), but the answers that the Court provides reflect a startling insensitivity to the principles embodied in the First Amendment. In my view, the City of Los Angeles has not shown that its interest in eliminating "visual clutter" justifies its restriction of appellees' ability to communicate with the local electorate.
of course, a time-honored means of communicating a broad range of ideas and information, particularly in our cities and towns. At the same time, the unfettered proliferation of signs on public fixtures may offend the public's legitimate desire to preserve an orderly and aesthetically pleasing urban environment. In this case, as in Metromedia, we are called upon to adjudge the constitutionality under the First Amendment of a local government's response to this recurring dilemma -- namely, the clash between the public's aesthetic interest in controlling the use of billboards, signs, handbills, and other similar means of communication and the First Amendment interest of those who wish to use these media to express their views, or to learn the views of others, on matters of importance to the community.
In deciding this First Amendment question, the critical importance of the posting of signs as a means of communication must not be overlooked. Use of this medium of communication is particularly valuable, in part, because it entails a relatively small expense in reaching a wide audience, allows flexibility in accommodating various formats, typographies, and graphics, and conveys its message in a manner that is easily read and understood by its reader or viewer. There may be alternative channels of communication, but the prevalence of a large number of signs in Los Angeles [Footnote 2/1] is a strong indication that, for many speakers, those alternatives are far less satisfactory. Cf. Southeastern Promotion, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U. S. 546, 420 U. S. 556 (1975).
25-26. But there is no showing that either of these alternatives would serve appellees' needs nearly as well as would the posting of signs on public property. First, there is no proof that a sufficient number of private parties would allow the posting of signs on their property. Indeed, common sense suggests the contrary, at least in some instances. A speaker with a message that is generally unpopular or simply unpopular among property owners is hardly likely to get his message across if forced to rely on this medium. It is difficult to believe, for example, that a group advocating an increase in the rate of a property tax would succeed in persuading private property owners to accept its signs.
in judgment); Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro, 431 U. S. 85, 431 U. S. 93 (1977).
"the delicate and difficult task falls upon the courts to weigh the circumstances and to appraise the substantiality of the reasons advanced in support of the regulation."
"before deferring to a city's judgment, a court must be convinced that the city is seriously and comprehensively addressing aesthetic concerns with respect to its environment."
453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 531. I adhere to that view. Its correctness -- premised largely on my concern that aesthetic interests are easy for a city to assert and difficult for a court to evaluate is, for me, reaffirmed by this case.
of the aesthetic environment are important governmental functions, and that some restrictions on speech may be necessary to carry out these functions. Metromedia, supra, at 453 U. S. 530. But a governmental interest in aesthetics cannot be regarded as sufficiently compelling to justify a restriction of speech based on an assertion that the content of the speech is, in itself, aesthetically displeasing. Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15 (1971). Because aesthetic judgments are so subjective, however, it is too easy for government to enact restrictions on speech for just such illegitimate reasons, and to evade effective judicial review by asserting that the restriction is aimed at some displeasing aspect of the speech that is not solely communicative -- for example, its sound, its appearance, or its location. An objective standard for evaluating claimed aesthetic judgments is therefore essential; for without one, courts have no reliable means of assessing the genuineness of such claims.
objective by asserting the first and declaring that signs constitute visual clutter. In short, we must avoid unquestioned acceptance of the City's bare declaration of an aesthetic objective, lest we fail in our duty to prevent unlawful trespasses upon First Amendment protections.
aesthetics-based restrictions of speech, they risk standing idly by while important media of communication are foreclosed for the sake of insubstantial governmental objectives.
concomitant of considering means and ends together. But regardless of why it is done, a reviewing court will be confronted with a statement of substantiality the subjectivity of which makes it impossible to question on its face.
This possibility of interdependence between means and ends in the development of policies to promote aesthetics poses a major obstacle to judicial review of the availability of alternative means that are less restrictive of speech. Indeed, when a court reviews a restriction of speech imposed in order to promote an aesthetic objective, there is a significant possibility that the court will be able to do little more than pay lipservice to the First Amendment inquiry into the availability of less restrictive alternatives. The means may fit the ends only because the ends were defined with the means in mind. In this case, for example, the City has expressed an aesthetic judgment that signs on public property constitute visual clutter throughout the City, and that its objective is to eliminate visual clutter. We are then asked to determine whether that objective could have been achieved with less restriction of speech. But to ask the question is to highlight the circularity of the inquiry. Since the goal, at least as currently expressed, is essentially to eliminate all signs, the only available means of achieving that goal is to eliminate all signs.
of speech than a total ban on signs, and the ban, therefore, would be invalid.
Regrettably, the Court's analysis is seriously inadequate. Because the Court has failed to develop a reliable means of gauging the nature or depth of the City's commitment to pursuing the goal of eradicating "visual clutter," it simply approves the ordinance with only the most cursory degree of judicial oversight. Without stopping to consider carefully whether this supposed commitment is genuine or substantial, the Court essentially defers to the City's aesthetic judgment, and, in so doing, precludes serious assessment of the availability of alternative means.
"[t]he problem addressed by this ordinance -- the visual assault on the citizens of Los Angeles presented by an accumulation of signs posted on public property -- constitutes a significant substantive end within the City's power to prohibit."
"[w]ith respect to signs posted by appellees . . . , it is the tangible medium of expressing the message that has adverse impact on the appearance of the landscape."
Ante at 466 U. S. 810. But, as I have demonstrated, it is precisely the ability of the State to make this judgment that should lead us to approach these cases with more caution.
that government may not engage in such activities. As I have said, improvement and preservation of the aesthetic environment are often legitimate and important governmental functions. But because the implementation of these functions creates special dangers to our First Amendment freedoms, there is a need for more stringent judicial scrutiny than the Court seems willing to exercise.
This does not mean that a government must address all aesthetic problems at one time, or that a government should hesitate to pursue aesthetic objectives. What it does mean, however, is that, when such an objective is pursued, it may not be pursued solely at the expense of First Amendment freedoms, nor may it be pursued by arbitrarily discriminating against a form of speech that has the same aesthetic characteristics as other forms of speech that are also present in the community. See Metromedia, supra, at 453 U. S. 531-534 (BRENNAN, J., concurring in judgment).
throughout the City and without regard to the density of their presence. 682 F.2d 847, 852 (CA9 1982). Therefore, I would hold that the prohibition violates appellees' First Amendment rights.
goals pursued are substantial and that the manner in which they are pursued is no more restrictive of speech than is necessary.
According to the Court of Appeals, street inspection personnel removed 51,662 illegally posted signs between January 1, 1980, and May 24, 1980. 682 F.2d 847, 853, n. 6. (1982).
Of course, a content-neutral restriction must also leave open ample alternative avenues of communication. See supra at 466 U. S. 819-820, and this page.
"Aesthetic policy, as currently formulated and implemented at the federal, state, and local levels, often partakes more of high farce than of the rule of law. Its purposes are seldom accurately or candidly portrayed, let alone understood, by its most vehement champions. Its diversion to dubious or flatly deplorable social ends undermines the credit that it may merit when soundly conceived and executed. Its indiscriminate, often quixotic demands have overwhelmed legal institutions, which all too frequently have compromised the integrity of legislative, administrative, and judicial processes in the name of 'beauty.'"
Costonis, Law and Aesthetics: A Critique and a Reformation of the Dilemmas, 80 Mich.L.Rev. 355 (1982).
The fact that a ban on temporary signs applies to all signs does not necessarily imply content neutrality. Because particular media are often used disproportionately for certain types of messages, a restriction that is content-neutral on its face may, in fact, be content-hostile. Cf. Stone, Fora Americana: Speech in Public Places, 1974 S.Ct.Rev. 233, 257.
It is theoretically, though remotely, possible that a form of speech could be so distinctively unaesthetic that a comprehensive program aimed at eliminating the eyesore it causes would apply only to the unpleasant form of speech. Under the approach I suggest, such a program would be invalid because it would only restrict speech, and the community, therefore, would have to tolerate the displeasing form of speech. This is no doubt a disadvantage of the approach. But at least when the form of speech that is restricted constitutes an important medium of communication, and when the restriction would effect a total ban on the use of that medium, that is the price we must pay to protect our First Amendment liberties from those who would use aesthetics alone as a cloak to abridge them.
"[t]he City has not offered to prove facts that raise any genuine issue regarding traffic safety hazards with respect to the posting of signs on many of the objects covered by the ordinance."

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