Supreme Court Considers First Amendment Ramifications of Church Sign Ordinance

Case Name: Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona

On Monday, January 12, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case of whether a local town ordinance violates the First AmendmentThis Amendment prohibits the government from making laws that establish religion or prohibit free exercise of religion, infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. rights of churches when the ordinance limits the size, quantity, and duration of church signs when political signs are not similarly limited.  Attorneys for the town of Gilbert, Arizona have argued that the ordinance is not discriminatory because all non-commercial event signs have the same restrictions.  Attorneys for Clyde Reed, the pastor of the Good News Presbyterian Church argued that just because the city claims the ordinance appears to be facially neutral toward religious free speech does not mean that it is actually neutral.

Even though the facts involving sign regulation may appear relatively simple, the ramifications are much broader. Here, the town of Gilbert has made one rule for political signs and one rule for all other non-commercial signs.

After the argument, Reed gave a prepared statement outside the Court.  "The whole experience has been shocking to me — our signs inviting people to church are very important yet are treated as second-class speech. We aren't asking for speical treatment; we just want our town to stop favoring the speech of others over ours."

Case materials and briefs, including the amicus curiaeLatin for friend of the court. Refers to a party that is allowed to provide information (usually in the form of a legal brief) to a court even though the party is not directly involved in the case at hand. brief of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which addressed the issue1. The disputed point between parties in a lawsuit; 2. To send out officially, as in a court issuing an order. in the context of door-to-door proselytizing,  are available at Scotusblog.com.