Sign Regulation After City of Ladue v. Gilleo: Still No Answer to the Problem of Content-Based Regulations

Drafting legally defensible sign regulations presents a major challenge to government. If a sign ordinance adopts the common technique of prohibiting all signs in a particular district, with certain specified exceptions, it may be struck down as an invalid content-based regulation. If a city tries to avoid that problem by eliminating the exceptions, the ordinance may be invalid because it prohibits all signs in the district. This article examines whether the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent sign case provides any help to communities struggling with the sign regulation problem.