Brian J. Connolly

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One of the big questions coming out of the Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert was whether Reed’s standard for content neutrality analysis would change past Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding regulations of adult businesses.  Under the precedents set in Young v. American Mini-Theatres, Inc. and City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., adult businesses can be specially regulated by local governments under the theory that the regulations are content neutral because they are targeted at the “secondary effects” of such businesses.  Reed held that any facially content based law should be subject to strict scrutiny.  Laws that apply to adult businesses are arguably facially content based, since they apply to particular forms of speech and expression.  Thus, there was skepticism that Reed might portend an overruling of prior cases regarding adult businesses.  
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Hints That Reed Does Not Apply In Adult Business Regulation Cases

The Village of Downers Grove, Illinois survived federal and state law challenges to its sign code after a federal district court found the code to be content neutral under the standard articulated in the Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert.  Plaintiff Robert Peterson owns a business called Leibundguth Storage & Van Service, Inc., which painted large signs advertising its business on the walls of its brick building in Downers Grove.  The village’s sign ordinance banned painted wall signs and limited the size and number of wall signs.  Peterson argued that the sign code was content based because it exempted government signs, railroad signs, address signs, noncommercial flags, real estate signs, and decorations, among other sign types, from the village’s permitting requirement.  
Continue Reading Illinois Village Survives Sign Code Challenge

Nightclub operators challenged Wickliffe, Ohio’s nightclub ordinance, which required permits for the operation of for-profit nightclubs, defined by the ordinance as places “to engage in social activities such as dancing; the enjoyment of live or prerecorded music; the serving of food and beverages; all of which are provided for a consideration that may be included …

A women’s health counseling service was denied in its efforts to advertise on buses operated by the Fort Wayne, Indiana public bus system.  The bus system’s advertising policy prohibited noncommercial advertising of any nature but allows the display of public service announcements.  The federal district court found that the bus advertising space constituted a nonpublic …

Panama City, Florida passed five ordinances aimed at reducing the impacts of spring break revelers in the popular Gulf Coast tourist destination.  One of the ordinances limited the hours of alcoholic beverage sales during the month of March, while others limited possession or consumption of alcohol in commercial parking lots, on City right-of-ways, and on …

Plaintiff Recycle for Change uses unattended donation and collection boxes in Oakland, California to collect donations of used textiles.  Oakland passed an ordinance requiring such boxes to be permitted, which in turn requires payment of a permitting fee of $535.  The ordinance additionally imposed dispersal requirements between such boxes, as well as the location and …