Ladue v. Gilleo

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri found for Margaret Gilleo. It held the new law unconstitutional and ordered the city of Ladue to stop enforcing it. The case then went to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which affirmed the decision. It asserted the city was choosing to regulate Gilleo's free speech on the basis of what she was saying, rather than its stated reason of eliminating clutter. It also found that the city's reasons for banning signs, while valid, were not compelling enough to warrant such a content-based restriction. The city of Ladue then appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.