ARLINGTON, Va.—Today, the Institute for Justice (IJ) sent a letter to officials in Westfield, New Jersey, calling on them to change an ordinance that gives town leaders unlimited discretion to prohibit signs, posters, or other written materials on public property, opening the door to unconstitutional censorship of a person’s free speech. This ordinance is not only a bad policy, but a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. 

“A bedrock principle of the First Amendment is that any limits on speech must be narrowly tailored and come with clear rules to ensure that officials aren’t using their power to shut down disfavored viewpoints,” said IJ Attorney Ben Field. “Westfield’s ordinance, which places absolutely no guardrails on officials’ discretion to permit or prohibit speech on public property, is among the most blatantly unconstitutional laws we’ve ever seen.” 

In at least one case, it appears town leaders have used Westfield’s sign code to censor disfavored speech. IJ has been in touch with Westfield resident Shawn Mullen, who in 2021 was running for Town Council. During that campaign, Shawn had a table with small campaign signs and literature in a public park during an event he was co-sponsoring. However, Councilman Michael Dardia, who was running for city council on the opposing party’s ticket, ordered event organizers to take down the signs, and called the police—who in turn ordered Shawn and his fellow campaigners to remove their signs and literature, according to a police report for the incident. 

Based upon substantial evidence reviewed by IJ, it appears that political signs and literature are regularly displayed on Westfield public property and in the town’s parks. Those signs and literature include political campaign material just like Shawn was displaying during his event in 2021. This evidence suggests Westfield’s sign code isn’t enforced against signs or literature supporting candidates or policy positions associated with the Democratic Party. Rather, it was only enforced against Republican candidates during the 2021 election. If that’s true, it represents an egregious violation of Americans’ free speech rights.  

Importantly, this alleged violation would be just as serious if the roles were reversed, and Westfield was instead favoring conservative viewpoints over liberal ones. IJ believes that all constitutionally protected speech must be allowed by the government. 

Westfield’s public-property sign law almost certainly violates the First Amendment because it allows town officials to selectively enforce its ordinance based on the content of people’s speech. The Constitution requires the government to remain neutral when enforcing restrictions on when, how, and where people exercise their right to free speech. Additionally, it is especially disturbing that Westfield is restricting free-speech related activities in public parks, which is a public forum where speech traditionally receives high First Amendment protection. 

IJ has a long history of fighting to protect Americans’ right to free speech through challenging unconstitutional sign code restrictions, including victories in Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington. IJ has also worked with cities to amend unconstitutional sign laws to avoid litigation.