Reed v. Town of Gilbert
United States Supreme Court
135 S. Ct. 2218 (2015)
The Town of Gilbert (defendant) passed a sign ordinance that regulated different categories of signs differently, including political signs, ideological signs, and temporary directional signs for events. Temporary directional signs faced the strictest limits. Pastor Clyde Reed and his church (plaintiffs) posted small directional signs pointing to church services and were cited for violating those stricter limits. Reed sued, arguing the ordinance violated free speech; the town defended the differing rules as serving its interests in aesthetics and traffic safety.
Whether a restriction on speech that is content-based on its face is subject to strict scrutiny regardless of the government's benign motive or justification.