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A federal judge ruled yesterday that D.C.’s divergent regulations on event-specific and non-event signs hung on public property are unconstitutional, yet another salvo in a battle dating back to 2007 over what types of signs can stay up and how long they can stay up for. Writes the Legal Times:

Lamberth found that the law failed on two main fronts. First, the city had failed to justify a distinction drawn between how signs for events are treated versus non-event signs. Second, the city gave law enforcement officers too much discretion to decide whether a sign was event-related or not.

“The Court recognizes that language is imprecise, and it cannot expect definitions to cover every imaginable scenario,” Lamberth wrote. “Yet, when a law touches on the sensitive area of free speech, more specificity is required.”

At issue were differing rules on how long different types of signs can stay up in public. Event-specific signs, for one, have to be removed within 30 days of the event they advertise, while signs simply making a statement can stay up for a total of 180 days. According to a coalition of left-leaning groups, those distinctions created two standards based on the type of speech involved, and Judge Royce Lamberth agreed.

This isn’t the first time that the court have delved into the issue—last year Lamberth struck down an earlier set of D.C. regulations on when and for how long signs can be hung, forcing the city to rewrite its rules. In 2007, anti-war groups sued the city over fines levied against them for not removing signs on time.

Moving forward, D.C. officials will have to craft a single regulation that applies to all signs, whether event-related or not.