Reagan Natl Advtsng v. City of Austin, No. 19-50354 (5th Cir. 2023)
Annotate this Case
Two outdoor-advertising companies filed applications with the City of Austin to digitize existing, traditional billboards and to upgrade signs with less sophisticated digitization. The City rejected their applications because the signs would advertise a business, service, or activity that was not located on the site where the sign was installed. The companies sued, arguing that the City’s Sign Code’s distinction between on-premises and off-premises signs violated the First Amendment. The district court upheld the Sign Code. When the case first came to this court, we reversed, holding that the on-premises/off-premises distinction was content-based and could not survive strict scrutiny. The U.S. Supreme Court, though, held that the City’s Sign Code was facially content neutral and, absent an impermissible purpose, would be subject to intermediate scrutiny. The court remanded.
The Fifth Circuit concluded, applying the Supreme Court’s new guidance, that the Sign Code survives intermediate scrutiny. The court explained that the effort to compare all billboards to all news racks fails. The Supreme Court could discern no meaningful difference between newspapers and commercial handbills. Both were sold on identical news racks and were equally responsible for the harm inflicted on public safety and aesthetics. In the context of sign regulations, by contrast, the court has discerned a meaningful difference between on-premises and off-premises signs. Further, the court found that municipalities have traditionally been given wide discretion in the domain of sign regulations, and Austin is entitled to that latitude.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on August 26, 2020.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.