Reed v. Town of Gilbert
United States Supreme Court
576 U.S. 155, 135 S. Ct. 2218, 192 L.Ed.2d 236 (2015)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The Town of Gilbert (defendant) passed an ordinance regulating the posting of signs in the town. The ordinance created different categories of signs, including “Ideological Sign[s],” “Political Sign[s],” and “Temporary Directional Signs Relating to a Qualifying Event.” The ordinance applied different restrictions to each category. The ordinance was more restrictive with its regulation of temporary directional signs. Good News Community Church and its pastor, Clyde Reed (plaintiffs), held church services at various buildings in the town. Reed posted temporary signs around the town to direct parishioners to the services. The town cited Reed because the signs violated the sign ordinance. Reed brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, claiming that the ordinance violated his freedom of speech. The town cited aesthetic appeal and traffic management as the interests served by implementing the different restrictions based on sign type. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thomas, J.)
Concurrence (Kagan, J.)
Concurrence (Alito, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 778,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.