Six-Year Wait Pays Off for Ohio Town in Battle With Strip Club
by Ed Thomas
January 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed the right of a town in Ohio to regulate adult-oriented businesses through its local ordinances. On January 9, the high court refused to review a lower court's decision and upheld Union Township, Ohio, in the appeal of a lawsuit brought by a local strip club. The club, called "Déjà Vu," had appealed the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling that upheld a town ordinance regulating sex businesses. It required closing no later than midnight, and inclusion of detailed employee information and job descriptions on business license applications. The club sued in 1999, claiming violation of its First Amendment right of free expression.
But David Miller, vice president of Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values (CCV), says since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of local municipalities to control the adverse effects of sex businesses on communities. Miller notes that studies have shown the effects include increased crime, decreased property values, and urban blight.
Those effects, says the CCV spokesman, "open the door" for cities to place regulations on where those businesses can locate, when they can be open, and the manners in which they operate. According to Miller, sex-oriented businesses typically see such restrictions as unconstitutional
"Almost every time the business will try to appeal," he says. "They'll sue the city, claiming an infringement on their First Amendment free-speech or free-expression rights. But very consistently now, the courts have upheld the rights of localities to license and zone and regulate adult businesses."
Miller points out that in the majority of cases, the Supreme Court has upheld a 1986 precedent case that allowed regulation to counter the secondary community effects of such businesses.
Last week's Supreme Court decision upholding the Sixth Circuit's ruling could have national implications. CCV believes many communities that are involved in similar court battles have been watching for a ruling in the six-year-old Ohio case to see how far the courts would allow governments to go in regulating adult-oriented businesses. Miller and other CCV officials have praised Union Township Administrator Ken Geis for his persistence while waiting on the ruling.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
