On March 30, 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Austin’s sign code is constitutional.  In April 2022 the US Supreme Court ruled on the case and remanded it in part back to the 5th Circuit Court which heard new arguments in September 2022.

Here is a quick analysis of the opinion:

• The majority determined that the City was entitled to wide discretion in its legislative judgment that off-premises advertising undermines its interests in safety and aesthetics more than on-premises advertising does, and was not required to provide any empirical data to demonstrate that its Sign Code was narrowly tailored to achieve these interests.

• The dissent disagreed with the majority’s approach, arguing it was “just rational-basis review masquerading as intermediate scrutiny.” The dissent stated that the substantial deference applied by the majority was not appropriate in the Court’s intermediate scrutiny analysis due to the Sign Code’s regulation of non-commercial speech.

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