TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on May 24, 2024

Nashville Metro Council on Tuesday voted 30-3 not to allow TC Restaurant Group to install signage for country singer Morgan Wallen's bar over a Metro right-of-way. The council cited Wallen’s reputation, past use of racial slurs and recent arrest for throwing a chair off a six-story building, nearly hitting police officers, as the reason for not approving the sign. The decision was not based on code violations or safety of the sign, which has sparked some First Amendment concerns among local experts. Ronald G. Harris, chief administrator at Neal & Harwell PLC, told the Nashville Business Journal, “When you get into the regulation of commercial speech, the government has a burden to show that there’s some substantial government interest in the regulation of commercial speech ... It’s not about the sign size or location, it’s regulating what’s on the sign itself. That’s always problematic for the government — you’re objecting to who the speaker is and what’s on the sign.”