Signs and Supreme Court Wonders

By FRC

Good News Community Church got some good news from the U.S. Supreme Court today. In what can only be called a consensus win for free speech, the justices ruled unanimously that Gilbert, Arizona violated the First Amendment in the way it restricted a church’s meeting signs. Thanks to a ridiculous local ordinance, Pastor Clyde Reed couldn’t get the message out about his church’s services because the city was picking and choosing which signs were acceptable. Unlike the more relaxed standards for things like political ads or real estate notices, Gilbert officials cracked down on the size, timing, and placement of church signs.

That all changed today, when the Court struck down the rule, protecting the message of churches — and anyone else the government wants to marginalize in the public debate. Just because a town disagrees someone’s speech doesn’t mean they have a license to silence it. We applaud the Court and our friends at ADF for encouraging an open marketplace of ideas in which all voices are welcome.