The Buildings Committee took the action after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned "virtually identical" advertising restrictions in Massachusetts. The court ruled that the commercial speech was protected by the First Amendment.

"We're waving the white flag," said Buildings Committee Chairman Bernard Stone. "If the court has, in effect, said that commercial speech has the same protection as freedom of individual speech, and you can't touch content, then you just can't do it."

The Chicago ban had never been enforced because of legal challenges. "You can't restrict truthful information about lawful products to adults on the basis of a collateral concern about children," said Eric Rubin, legal counsel to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. "The city is doing exactly what the Constitution compels. The U.S. Supreme Court and two other federal courts in the last few months have made that decision for them."

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