A Sign Is Not A Crime: IJ Wins For Low-Cost Commercial Speech

Victories at IJ don’t always come in the form of a court decision. Sometimes, our lawsuits prompt local governments—on their own—to recognize unconstitutional laws for what they are. Earlier this year, IJ sued Nazareth, Pennsylvania, after retired schoolteacher Will Cramer was charged with a crime for putting a “for sale” sign on his truck. Because we sued, Nazareth changed the law. 

Nazareth’s prior ordinance prohibited parking a vehicle “for the purpose of selling” it. When a local police officer saw the sign on Will’s truck last year, he didn’t inquire about Will’s motives—the sign itself was enough to issue a ticket. If Will’s sign had said anything other than “for sale,” or advertised anything other than his truck, he’d be fine. He’d also be fine if the sign had said “for sale,” but the truck had been moving instead of parked. 

In other words, the law effectively banned car-for-sale signs in Nazareth. That wasn’t just absurd; it was unconstitutional. 

The First Amendment protects all forms of speech, including the right to put a “for sale” sign on your truck. Governments can’t allow certain messages while criminalizing others. And if a town wants to ban certain types of speech, it needs to show concrete evidence of actual harm. But there’s no harm in using traditional signs to sell your car. 

So Will teamed up with IJ and asked a court to agree that advertising “car for sale” shouldn’t make you a criminal. The challenged law had been in place since 1991, and no one in the town of Nazareth even knew why. So instead of attempting to defend its constitutionality, Nazareth worked with IJ to enact a new ordinance that specifically allows car-for-sale signs and only bans conduct that causes actual harm, like greasing or repairing vehicles on public roads.

Every American has the right to engage in low-cost, traditional, and effective forms of speech like using a sign. IJ will continue to fight unconstitutional bans on ordinary and harmless commercial speech, whether we win in court or prompt the government to finally do the right thing.

Bobbi Taylor is an IJ attorney.