David Bowden, the man who posted a big, colorful sign on his Cary home declaring he’d been “Screwed by the Town of Cary” has prevailed in his lawsuit against the town.
U.S. District Court Judge Louise W. Flanagan determined the town’s sign ordinance “is a content based restriction on speech that is invalid under the First Amendment as applied” and granted Bowden a permanent injunction.
Here is part of the judge’s reasoning:
And the ruling dispelled the notion of traffic safety. “A giant flashing Christmas sign would presumably cause just as many traffic problems as [Bowden’s] sign, if not more. Yet the Christmas sign would be exempt from regulation as a ‘holiday decoration.’ ”
