Court Opinion

ID: 9675825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:06:49.837568+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:40.145772
License: Public Domain

PAGE, Justice
(concurring).
I write separately for two reasons. First, while I agree with the court’s analysis leading to the conclusion that appellants’ convictions under the Anoka, Minn., Code, must be vacated, and with the reversal of appellants’ convictions under the state public nuisance statute, Minn.Stat. § 609.74(1) (2006), I would reverse the convictions under the public nuisance statute simply because it is clear on this record that the state’s prosecution of appellants under the statute was content-based and therefore barred by the First Amendment. See Police Dep’t of City of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 95, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972) (“[Ajbove all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.”).
I also write separately to express my disagreement with the court’s portrayal of appellants’ signs. According to the court, because appellants “undoubtedly intended for drivers to read their message,” appellants are “no different from anyone else who posts signs near highways.” I disagree. First, not just anyone can post signs near highways, much less within the right-of-way, as appellants stipulate they did. Minnesota Statutes § 160.2715 (2006) makes it a misdemeanor for anyone but “the road authorities, their agents, employees, contractors, and utilities” to “place” or “affix” any object within the limits of any *649highway. I would not equate appellants with “road authorities, their agents, employees, contractors, and utilities.”1
Nor would I equate appellants’ signs with those placed along highways by “road authorities, their agents, employees, contractors and utilities.” To equate appellants’ signs with traffic control signs placed along highways by road authorities for public transportation safety and information purposes, such as speed limit signs, highway identification and directional signs, and variable message signs used to warn motorists of traffic conditions ahead or Amber Alerts, is simply unwarranted. These signs, while “undoubtedly intended for drivers to read their message,” are qualitatively different from the signs displayed by appellants, which have no public transportation safety or information purpose. To equate appellants’ signs with those placed along or near highways by road authorities is to devalue transportation safety.
The court muses that “[t]he use of road signs by transportation authorities to present drivers with safety, directional, and other information bears witness to the common understanding that not every sign that attracts a driver’s attention creates a danger to the public.” As discussed above, these musings are misguided. They are also misguided because traffic control signs placed along the highway by transportation authorities are neither intended nor designed to attract a driver’s attention away from the act of driving. Traffic control signs placed in the right-of-way by transportation authorities, which are required to be of a prescribed size, shape, coloring, and lettering, are designed and intended to facilitate and make safer the activity of driving.2 Whatever the purpose of appellants’ signs, they were designed and intended to attract a driver’s attention away from the act of driving and in no way make that activity safer.
Second, appellants’ signs were not the type of signs that can be placed on or near highways. Highway 10 (within which right-of-way appellants placed their signs) is designated as a trunk highway under Minn.Stat. § 161.114, subd. 2 (2006),3 and is part of the National Highway System.4 *650Minnesota Statutes § 161.434 (2006) allows the commissioner of transportation to make agreements for “the limited use” of the right-of-way along trunk highways, but only for “highway purposes.” Appellants had no agreement with the commissioner and their signs were not placed over Highway 10 during rush hour for “highway purposes.” In addition, under 23 U.S.C. § 131(c) (2000), signs within 660 feet of the right-of-way of a highway that is part of the National Highway System are limited to:
(1) directional and official signs and notices, which signs and notices shall include, but not be limited to, signs and notices pertaining to natural wonders, scenic and historical attractions, which are required or authorized by law, which shall conform to national standards hereby authorized to be promulgated by the Secretary hereunder, which standards shall contain provisions concerning lighting, size, number, and spacing of signs, and such other requirements as may be appropriate to implement this section,
(2) signs, displays, and devices advertising the sale or lease of property upon which they are located,
(3) signs, displays, and devices, including those which may be changed at reasonable intervals by electronic process or by remote control, advertising activities conducted on the property on which they are located,
(4) signs lawfully in existence on October 22, 1965, determined by the State, subject to the approval of the Secretary, to be landmark signs, including signs on farm structures or natural surfaces, or historic or artistic significance the preservation of which would be consistent with the purposes of this section, and
(5) signs, displays, and devices advertising the distribution by nonprofit organizations of free coffee to individuals traveling on the Interstate System or the primary system.
Appellants’ signs satisfied none of these criteria, and to equate appellants’ signs with those that do is improper.

. Minnesota Statutes § 173.08, subd. 1 (2006), similarly bars the placement of “advertising devices” adjacent to the right-of-way of an interstate or trunk highway. Minnesota Statutes § 173.02, subd. 16 (2006), defines “advertising device” broadly: "any billboard, sign, notice, poster, display, or other device visible to and primarily intended to advertise and inform or to attract or which does attract the attention of operators and occupants of motor vehicles * * *.” Minnesota Rule 8810.0500 (2005) makes “[a]U signs erected or encroaching on any right-of-way” illegal, with exceptions not applicable to appellants or their signs. See Minn.Stat. § 14.38, subd. 1 (2006); U.S. West Material Resources, Inc. v. Comm’r of Revenue, 511 N.W.2d 17, 20 n. 2 (Minn. 1994) (noting that duly adopted administrative rules have the force and effect of laws).

. The Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices is available at http://www. dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/otepubl/mutcd/ index.html (last visited June 19, 2007). It prescribes, for example, that guide signs (that is, signs showing such things as route designations, destinations, directions, and distances, as defined in chapter 2A.5.C) on freeways and expressways must have white legends and borders on a green background (chapter 2E.4), that letters on guide signs must be at least 200 mm (8 inches) high (chapter 2E.13), and that exit numbers are placed on the left edge of the sign for a left exit and the right edge of the sign for a right exit (chapter 2E.33).

. A map of the trunk highways in Minnesota is available at the Minnesota Department of Transportation website, http://www.dot.state. mn.us/maps/cadd/highway_system/mnthsys. pdf (last visited June 19, 2007).

. A map of the National Highway System, including U.S. Highway 10, is available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/heplO/nhs (last visited June 19, 2007).