Can the Process of Architectural Design Review Withstand Constitutional Scrutiny?

Abstract

In his dissent from the majority in City of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent (466 U.S. 789, 1984), Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., cited the opening statement of a law review article by New York University law professor John J. Costonis:.

Aesthetic policy, as currently formulated and implemented at the federal, state and local levels, often partakes more of high farce than of the rule of law. Its purposes are seldom accurately or candidly portrayed, let alone understood, by its most vehement champions. Its diversion to dubious or flatly deplorable social ends undermines the credit that it may merit when soundly conceived and executed. Its indiscriminate, often quixotic demands have overwhelmed legal institutions, which all too frequently have compromised the integrity of legislative, administrative, and judicial processes in the name of “beauty” (Costonis, 1982, 356).