Last Step
Court stopped Scottsdale from enforcing its sign code against Plaintiffs and allowed Plaintiffs to continue to use their signs.
Next Step
Await revision to Scottsdale’s sign code.
For years, Aaron Shearer has successfully run farmers markets, where people looking for fresh, organic produce can meet and buy from local farmers. She’s learned by experience that farmers markets work best when they’re well-advertised—particularly by signs placed on sidewalks in the area. By the 2013-14 season, Aaron was running two profitable markets that brought her and her participating farmers good incomes. That was before officials with the City of Scottsdale issued her an order forcing her to stop posting the signs that directed potential customers to the markets. Without the signs, attendance plummeted, and Aaron was forced to close one of them down entirely. City fathers denied her request to post signs directing customers to her other market—she could only post four signs at locations they selected. Although Aaron appealed that decision, the city’s order soon forced her to close the second market as well. All of this despite the fact that other Scottsdale businesses are given greater latitude to post signs off-premises, and state law almost entirely bars cities from prohibiting signs advertising political candidates. In other words, Scottsdale’s sign restrictions allow some signs without any permit, require other signs to get a permit first, and totally prohibits still other signs. This differential treatment is unconstitutional. In its 2015 ruling, Reed v. Town of Gilbert, the U.S. Supreme Court held that cities cannot impose different rules on signs based on the messages they convey. Scottsdale’s ordinance breaks this rule because the only way the city can know which rules apply is to classify the signs based on message—exactly what the Reed case forbids.
Case Logistics
The plaintiff in this case is Aaron Shearer. The defendants are the Board of Adjustment and the City of Scottsdale. The case was filed in the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County on October 5, 2016.
Case Documents
Goldwater Institute letter to City of Scottsdale
Shearer’s Verified Complaint for Statutory Special Action and Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
Heed Reed policy report
Backgrounder (10/5/2016)
Legal Team
Jared Blanchard Jared Blanchard is a staff attorney at the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation. He has successfully litigated property rights, school choice, and First Amendment cases in multiple states for the Goldwater Institute. Before he joined Goldwater, Jared worked in private practice in Florida.
Jim Manley Jim Manley is a senior attorney at the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation. Before joining the Goldwater Institute, Jim served six years as a staff attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation. In his first case after graduating from law school, he secured a victory at the Colorado Supreme Court protecting the right to self-defense on college campuses. His cases defending free speech, the right to keep and bear arms, taxpayer rights, and property rights have set important precedents in state and federal courts.
Adi Dynar Adi Dynar is a Staff Attorney at the Goldwater Institute. He litigates cases across the United States relating to fundamental civil rights, free enterprise, freedom of speech and association, and freedom of information, among others. Prior to joining the Goldwater Institute, Adi worked in the areas of constitutional law and immigration law.
Veronica Thorson Veronica Thorson is a Staff Attorney at the Goldwater Institute. She litigates cases relating to freedom of speech, free enterprise, and economic liberties. She earned her JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
