⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

A UFO-and-burger mural outside a Kansas hamburger shop brings a First Amendment dispute to the Tenth Circuit. In 2023, owner Stephen Howard commissioned an outside-wall mural at his Cozy Inn restaurant in Salina. City officials classified the display as a sign, said it exceeded their size limits, and stopped the painting. Howard sought a permit; the city left it on hold while discussing changes to its code. A district judge ruled that the sign-or-mural distinction and permit delay violated the First Amendment, and the city appealed. Prior restraint means government approval before someone may speak or paint. The question now is whether the code regulates displays by their message and whether the city has enough evidence to limit signs while leaving murals alone. Content-based speech rules generally face strict scrutiny; content-neutral ones face intermediate scrutiny, and that distinction drives the argument.

Cozy Inn, Incorporated, et al. v. City of Salina, Kansas (No. 25-3225) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, argued September 16, 2026.