First Amendment-Advertising

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership

1. City of Madison, Wisconsin

Case No.: 20-1670

Officials: Sykes, Chief Judge, and Flaum and Kanne, Circuit Judges.

Focus: First Amendment-Advertising

Adams Outdoor Advertising owns and operates billboards throughout Wisconsin, including 90 in Madison. Like many cities, Madison long ago adopted a sign-control ordinance that comprehensively regulates billboards—or “advertising signs,” as they are called in the ordinance—to promote traffic safety and aesthetics. In 2017 the City amended the definition of “advertising sign” to remove prior references to noncommercial speech. As amended, the term “advertising sign” is limited to off-premises signs bearing commercial messages. Just before this latest amendment, Adams Outdoor filed this lawsuit raising a broad-spectrum First Amendment challenge to the City’s sign ordinance.

The legal foundation of this suit—that the on-/off-premises distinction in Madison’s sign code is a content-based classification triggering strict scrutiny—is unsound. As City of Austin has now made clear, the on-/off-premises line is content neutral, so intermediate scrutiny applies. And this court sees no flaw in the judge’s analysis and decision upholding the City’s ban on digital-image signs under that more lenient standard of review.

Affirmed.

Decided 01/04/23

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