City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed a First Amendment challenge to a City of Austin, Texas ordinance that prohibited new off-premises billboards but allowed existing on-premises signs to be digitized. Reagan National Advertising, which owned off-premises billboards, argued the regulation was an unconstitutional content-based restriction because one must read the sign to determine if it advertises an on-site or off-site business. The District Court ruled for the City, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding the ordinance content-based. The Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit in a 6-3 decision, holding that the distinction between on-premises and off-premises signs is facially content neutral. The Court reasoned that the regulation does not discriminate based on the topic or viewpoint of the message, but rather based on the objective, locational relationship between the sign and its subject matter.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the City of Austin, holding that the sign ordinance is facially content neutral. The Court reversed the judgment of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Whether a city sign ordinance that differentiates between on-premises and off-premises signs constitutes a content-based restriction on speech, triggering strict scrutiny under the First Amendment, or whether it is a content-neutral regulation subject to a lower standard of review.

This landmark ruling significantly clarified the scope of content neutrality in sign regulations, granting municipalities greater authority to regulate outdoor advertising based on location and function rather than the specific message conveyed. It affirmed that cities can draw objective distinctions between on-premises and off-premises signs to manage aesthetics and traffic safety without automatically violating the First Amendment, shaping local zoning and sign codes nationwide.