The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided a landmark First
Amendment case that threatened to topple thousands of sign codes
across the country.
As a previous Taft law bulletin explained, on-premises signs
advertise some good, service, or activity available on the same
property as the sign. They are the signs most of us rely on to know
that a Starbucks is a Starbucks, the local tire store is a tire
store, and the neighborhood house of worship is a house of worship.
Off-premises signs are what most of us know as billboards. They
advertise goods, services, or activities available on some other
property.
Austin, Texas — like thousands of other municipalities
— regulates billboards more strictly than on-premises signs.
For example, Austin permits on-premises signs to include digital
technology but prohibits digital billboards. Applying a categorical
rule that it and the Sixth Circuit adopted following Reed
v. Town of Gilbert, the Fifth Circuit held that
