Last week the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals denied a Reed v Gilbert challenge to San Francisco’s ban on new off-premises commercial billboards.  Since 2002, San Francisco has banned new off-premise billboards while permitting new on-premise signs.  Contest Promotions challenged the ban, arguing that the regulation was content based and therefore constitutional under Reed v Gilbert.  The court denied the appeal that local regulations of commercial billboards can be permitted if based on aesthetic and traffic safety considerations.  You can read the ruling here.

Insider’s take:  Most Courts are allowing sign codes which apply different rules to on and off-premise signs, even in a Reed v Gilbert world.  Tennessee and Texas may be the exceptions.  The sign codes most likely to get invalidated by a Reed v Gilbert challenge micromanage non-commercial speech or attempt to micromanage commercial speech on some distinction besides on and off premise.

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