Court Opinion

ID: 9488081
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:35:31.675226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:39.852147
License: Public Domain

FAGG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because the majority concludes Gladstone’s durational limitations on political campaign signs, i.e., election signs, are content based, the majority applies strict scrutiny rather than the more deferential level of scrutiny applicable to content-neutral restrictions. Supra at 1408. I believe the dura-tional limitations are content neutral and would thus apply the more deferential standard. See Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 791, 109 S.Ct. 2746, 2753-54, 105 L.Ed.2d 661 (1989) (content-neutral restrictions on the time, place, or manner of protected speech need only be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest and leave open ample alternative channels for information’s communication). In my view, Gladstone can place reasonable time restrictions on the posting of election signs without also restricting other yard signs because the City found election signs pose a special threat to the neutral legislative goals of aesthetics and traffic safety. Analyzed under the deferential standard, I conclude the durational limitations are valid time, place, or manner restrictions. I thus respectfully dissent from Part 11(A) of the majority’s opinion, supra at 1403-09.
Valid time, place, or manner restrictions must be content neutral. Ward, 491 U.S. at 791, 109 S.Ct. at 2753-54. The main inquiry in deciding content neutrality, especially in time, place, or manner cases,
is whether the government has adopted a regulation of speech because of disagreement with the message it conveys. The government’s purpose is the controlling consideration. A regulation that serves purposes unrelated to the content of expression is deemed neutral, even if it has an incidental effect on' some speakers or messages but not others. Government regulation of expressive activity is content neutral so long as it is “justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech.”
Id. (Court’s emphasis) (citations omitted) (quoting Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288, 293, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 3069, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984)). Even when a regulation applies only to a particular category of speech, the regulation may be content neutral if the regulation’s justification has nothing to do with that speech, that is, the regulation does not aim to suppress free expression. Boos v. Barry, 485 U.S. 312, 320, 108 S.Ct. 1157, 1163, 99 L.Ed.2d 333 (1988).
I believe Gladstone’s durational limitations on election signs are content neutral because they are “ justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech.’” Ward, 491 U.S. at 791, 109 S.Ct. at 2753-54 (Court’s emphasis) (quoting Clark, 468 U.S. at 293, 104 S.Ct. at 3069). The stated purposes of the durational limitations are the promotion of aesthetics and traffic safety. These goals have nothing to do with the content of the election signs or with preventing the communication of election messages. See Boos, 485 U.S. at 320, 108 S.Ct. at 1163. The goals are unrelated to the suppression of ideas. Members of the City Council v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. 789, 805, 104 S.Ct. 2118, 2129, 80 L.Ed.2d 772 (1984).
In concluding the limitations are content based, I believe the majority misconstrues City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network, Inc., — U.S. —, 113 S.Ct. 1505, 123 L.Ed.2d 99 (1993). Supra at 1403-05, 1406-07. In City of Cincinnati, the Supreme Court held that although Cincinnati’s goal of limiting the total number of newsracks was “justified” by its interest in safety and aesthetics, Cincinnati lacked a neutral justification for its regulation of only a subgroup of news-*1412racks that distributed commercial publications, rather than all newsracks. — U.S. at —, 113 S.Ct. at 1517. In contrast, Gladstone has a neutral justification for placing special restrictions on only election signs as a subgroup of all yard signs, and the limitation enacted by Gladstone applies to the entire subgroup of election signs. Gladstone’s City Council determined that election signs pose risks to citizens and property different in kind from other yard signs. Supra at 1406 n. 10. In other words, the unique nature of election signs, including their fragility, brief relevance, and sheer numbers, poses a special threat to the ordinance’s stated neutral goals of promoting aesthetics and traffic safety. The durational limitations are content neutral even though they apply only to election signs because the neutral regulatory goals of aesthetics and traffic safety are particularly associated with election signs. See Boos, 485 U.S. at 320, 108 S.Ct. at 1163.
Although my colleagues do not reach the analysis for content-neutral regulations, I believe the durational limitations are valid time, place, or manner restrictions. First, the du-rational limitation is ‘“narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest.’ ” Ward, 491 U.S. at 796, 109 S.Ct. at 2756 (quoting Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. at 293, 104 S.Ct. at 3069). Gladstone has a substantial interest in advancing the goals of aesthetics and traffic safety. See Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. at 805, 807, 104 S.Ct. at 2129, 2130. The 38-day durational limitations are also a narrowly tailored means of achieving these goals. The limitations “need not be the least restrictive or least intrusive means” of serving the City’s goals. Ward, 491 U.S. at 798, 109 S.Ct. at 2757. Rather, the limitations are narrowly tailored if the City’s interest “would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.” Id. at 799, 109 S.Ct. at 2758. That is the case here. Second, the durational limitations “leave open ample alternative channels of communication.” Id. at 802, 109 S.Ct. at 2760. Outside as well as during the 38-day period when election signs may be posted, candidates can seek and individual property owners can express support in other ways. For example, candidates could distribute handbills, make telephone solicitations, host campaign receptions, give speeches, and run advertisements on the radio, television or in print. Individual property owners could wear campaign buttons, put bumper stickers on their cars, and place signs in the windows of their homes or businesses.
I would reverse the district court’s holding that the durational limitations violate the First Amendment.