Geoffrey Anderson, et al. v. City of Atlanta, Georgia

In Reed v. Town of Gilbert, this Court held that a sign regulation is content based if it applies to particular speech because of its topic or message. 576 U.S. 155 (2015). In City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC, the Court held that a rule distinguishing on-premises from off-premises signs is content neutral because it draws “neutral, locationbased lines” that are “agnostic as to content.” 596 U.S. 61, 69 (2022). The Third and Sixth Circuits hold that a sign code that applies its off-premises restriction to some subjects but exempts others is content based. The Eleventh Circuit held the opposite. And it reached that question on its own: the City stipulated below that its sign code was content based, and on appeal challenged the judgment solely on mootness. The questions presented are:

1. Whether a sign ordinance that restricts off-premises signs about some subjects, but not others, is content based and subject to strict scrutiny.

2. Whether a court of appeals abuses its discretion under the party-presentation principle of United States v. Sineneng-Smith, 590 U.S. 371 (2020), when it sua sponte raises and decides a dispositive issue that the City stipulated below and did not raise on appeal.