Cite as: 512 U. S. 43 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
An ordinance of the City of Ladue prohibits homeowners from displaying any signs on their property except "residence identification" signs, "for sale" signs, and signs warning of safety hazards. The ordinance permits commercial establishments, churches, and nonprofit organizations to erect certain signs that are not allowed at residences. The question presented is whether the ordinance violates a Ladue resident's right to free speech.1
I
Respondent Margaret P. Gilleo owns one of the 57 single-family homes in the Willow Hill subdivision of Ladue.2 On
December 8, 1990, she placed on her front lawn a 24- by 36-inch sign printed with the words, "Say No to War in the Persian Gulf, Call Congress Now." After that sign disappeared, Gilleo put up another but it was knocked to the ground. When Gilleo reported these incidents to the police, they advised her that such signs were prohibited in Ladue. The city council denied her petition for a variance.3 Gilleo then filed this action under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 against the City, the mayor, and members of the city council, alleging that
et al. by Timothy B. Dyk, Elliot M. Mincberg, and Marc D. Stern; and for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. by Daniel J. Popeo and Richard A. Samp.
1 The First Amendment provides: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . . ." The Fourteenth Amendment makes this limitation applicable to the States, see Gitlow v. New York, 268 U. S. 652 (1925), and to their political subdivisions, see Lovell v. City of Griffin, 303 U. S. 444 (1938).
2 Ladue is a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. It has a population of almost 9,000, and an area of about 8.5 square miles, of which only 3% is zoned for commercial or industrial use.
3 The ordinance then in effect gave the city council the authority to "permit a variation in the strict application of the provisions and requirements of this chapter . . . where the public interest will be best served by permitting such variation." App. 72.
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