Opinion ID: 783248
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impact on Commercial Speech

Text: 20 For more than twenty years, courts have determined the validity of government restrictions on commercial speech by applying a four-part test that asks: (1) whether the regulated commercial speech concerns lawful activity in a manner that is not misleading; (2) whether the restriction seeks to implement a substantial governmental interest; (3) whether it directly advances that interest, and (4) whether it reaches no further than necessary to accomplish the given objective. See Cent. Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n of N.Y., 447 U.S. 557, 563-66, 100 S.Ct. 2343, 65 L.Ed.2d 341 (1980). 21 Here, the district court acknowledged that the goals of improving traffic safety and the general aesthetics of the City are substantial government interests, but it questioned whether the inspection ordinances were the most direct approach to solving the City's problems, and concluded that a program aimed at regulating only off-site signs would not directly or materially advance the City's interests because off-site signs accounted for only 2.5% of all the estimated signs within the city limits. 22 The district court's analysis is flawed, however, because it employs a stricter standard than the reasonable fit between the ends and the means test set forth in Outdoor Systems. See 997 F.2d at 610-11 (concluding that there was a reasonable fit between the Arizona sign ordinances and their goals). An inspection program that targets only a subset of all signs is not necessarily inconsistent with the goals of safety and aesthetics for the same reasons that it is permissible to distinguish between on-site and off-site signs in the first place: 23 [W]hether onsite advertising is permitted or not, the prohibition of offsite 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 onsite advertising.... [T]he city may believe that offsite advertising, with its periodically changing content, presents a more acute problem than does onsite advertising.... San Diego has obviously chosen to value one kind of commercial speech—onsite advertising —more than another kind of commercial speech — offsite 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.... As we see it, the city could reasonably conclude that a commercial enterprise — as well as the interested public — has a stronger interest in identifying its place of business and advertising the products or services available there than it has in using or leasing its available space for the purpose of advertising commercial enterprises located elsewhere. 24 Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 511-12, 101 S.Ct. 2882 (citations omitted). In sum, if an inspection program is designed to advance a valid City interest — reducing the number of dangerous, non-conforming signs — it should not matter that it is underinclusive. Moreover, as Appellees all but concede, the City could constitutionally pass an ordinance banning all commercial off-site signs. It makes little sense, then, to argue that adopting a program that merely subjects those signs to inspection would be unconstitutional. 25 Appellees point to evidence in the record indicating that on-site signs are more likely to be in violation of the law. The City contends in turn that on-site structures are less likely to pose a danger because of the presence of an ongoing business and its proprietor. At this stage in the litigation, neither side has presented substantial evidence about comparative compliance rates as between on-site and off-site signs. Such figures would in any event be potentially misleading because the two kinds of signs are subject to different requirements, and an out-of-compliance billboard may well pose greater dangers than an out-of-compliance on-site sign. In any event, under Metromedia, the City need only show that the goal of bringing off-site signs into greater compliance with building codes is itself legitimate.