US appeals court says Pennsylvania town’s limits on political lawn signs are unconstitutional

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has found that a small Pennsylvania town’s ordinance designed to cut down on lawn signs is unconstitutional, saying that its resulting limitations on political lawn signs violates the free speech rights of residents.

The decision Thursday by a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling against Camp Hill Borough, a town of about 8,000 residents just outside the state capital of Harrisburg.

In the 11-page decision, Judge Stephanos Bibas rejected the borough’s arguments that its 2021 ordinance only regulated the “time, place and manner” of signs. Rather, the ordinance discriminates between types of content, is overly broad and lacks a compelling enough reason to encroach on free speech rights, Bibas wrote.

As proof of the ordinance’s regulation of content, the borough sought to impose stricter limits on noncommercial signs, such as political signs, than commercial or holiday signs, Bibas wrote.

Bibas wrote that Camp Hill’s interests in imposing the limits on signs — traffic safety and aesthetics — are legitimate, but not compelling enough to limit free speech.

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