Reed v. Town of Gilbert

Decided June 18, 2015. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 13-502 · 576 U.S. 155 (2015) · Cited 1,319 times

Holding

The Sign Code's provisions are content-based regulations of speech that do not survive strict scrutiny.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Ward v. Rock Against Racism · 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent · 466 U.S. 789 (1984)
• City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network, Inc. · 507 U.S. 410 (1993)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• City of Ladue v. Gilleo · 512 U.S. 43 (1994)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of University of Virginia · 515 U.S. 819 (1995)
• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board · 502 U.S. 105 (1991)
• Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. · 564 U.S. 552 (2011)
• Davenport v. Washington Education Ass'n · 551 U.S. 177 (2007)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence · 468 U.S. 288 (1984)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 557 (1980)
• City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. · 475 U.S. 41 (1986)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Rust v. Sullivan · 500 U.S. 173 (1991)
• Boos v. Barry · 485 U.S. 312 (1988)
• Carey v. Brown · 447 U.S. 455 (1980)
• Pleasant Grove City v. Summum · 555 U.S. 460 (2009)
• Republican Party of Minnesota v. White · 536 U.S. 765 (2002)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland · 481 U.S. 221 (1987)
• United States v. Eichman · 496 U.S. 310 (1990)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC · 596 U.S. 61 (2022)
• Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc. · 591 U.S. 610 (2020)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Vidal v. Elster · 602 U.S. 286 (2024)
• TikTok Inc. v. Garland · 604 U.S. 56 (2025)
• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm'n. · 605 U.S. 238 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2015). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).