Colorado Politics: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from two outdoor advertising companies who claimed the Colorado Department of Transportation’s rules for roadside signage amounted to a First Amendment violation through regulation of the signs’ content.

In reality, determined U.S. District Court Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson, state law regulates billboards based on whether they are purchased advertising, and not for the messages they convey.

“Here, Plaintiffs can continue to express their message if they apply for a permit or erect signs without receiving compensation,” Jackson wrote in a Dec. 6 order.

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