State v. DeAngelo, 197 N.J. 478

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that Lawrence Township's sign ordinance was an unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech because it prohibited an inflatable rat used in a union labor protest while permitting similar displays for commercial grand openings. The Court also concluded that the ordinance was overbroad because it virtually eliminated a medium of expressive communication. The court reversed the Appellate Division and remanded for dismissal of the summons.

Holdings

1. The Lawrence Township sign ordinance was content-based because it prohibited a union's inflatable rat display while permitting materially similar displays for grand openings and other favored purposes. The ordinance was unconstitutional because it did not satisfy strict scrutiny.
2. The ordinance was overbroad because it virtually eliminated an entire medium of protected expressive activity, namely nonverbal, eye-catching symbolic signs, while leaving only grand-opening signs and minor exceptions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Lawrence Township's sign ordinance, which prohibited balloon and other inflated signs while exempting grand-opening signs and other temporary signs, was a content-based restriction of speech in violation of the First Amendment and Article I, paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution.
2. Whether the sign ordinance was facially overbroad because it virtually eliminated nonverbal, eye-catching symbolic signs as a medium of expression.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded