The ordinance was adopted by the Worcester City Council on May 10; it is scheduled to take effect on Friday, June 24. The lawsuit seeks an order declaring that the ordinance violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that protects free speech, including commercial speech in the form of product advertising. In 2001, a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down a Massachusetts state law that prohibited outdoor advertising of tobacco products within 1,000 feet of a school or playground. In this case titled Lorillard Tobacco Company v. Reilly, the U.S. Supreme Court held that "so long as the sale and use of tobacco is lawful for adults, the tobacco industry has a protected interest in communicating information about its products and adult customers have an interest in receiving that information." The Worcester, Mass., city ordinance is even more restrictive than the Massachusetts statewide law overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Lorillard case.