Case Categories: Adult Businesses and Nude Dancing

Adult entertainment establishments are subject to an array of zoning and licensing requirements. A typical regulation provides that adult businesses cannot be within 500 feet of a church, school, playground, or another adult-oriented business. Others dictate the distance between patrons and performers, limit the hours of operation, or prohibit totally nude dancing.

The Supreme Court first recognized the existence of a First Amendment freedom of expression right in adult entertainment in California v. LaRue in 1972.

A few years later in 1976, the Court upheld zoning of adult businesses in Detroit when it introduced the secondary effects doctrine in its decision in Young v. American Mini Theatres (1976). The city of Detroit had adopted an "skid row" ordinance preventing adult businesses from locating within 1,000 feet of any two existing adult businesses or within 500 feet of any residential area. The theater that challenged the law contended that the zoning ordinance was a content-based law that targeted businesses because officials did not like the expressive messages conveyed by the adult material displayed.

The Court reasoned that the law was not passed to silence offensive expression but to prevent the deterioration of neighborhoods.

• Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991)

  Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991) ruled that states could regulate nude dancing without violating the First Amendment, even though such performances were...

• California v. LaRue (1972)

  California v. LaRue (1972) said that provisions regulating adult entertainment presented in establishments licensed to sell liquor did not violate the First...

• City of Erie v. Pap's A.M. (2000)

  City of Erie v. Pap’s A.M. (2000) used the secondary effects doctrine to uphold a public nudity ban, saying the ban did not violate the First Amendment...

• City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books (2002)

  City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books (2002) ruled that cities could rely on studies showing the crime impact of adult businesses to zone them without violating...

• City of Newport v. Iacobucci (1986)

  City of Newport v. Iacobucci (1986) said a Kentucky city’s interest in maintaining order outweighed the First Amendment protected expression of dancing nude...

• City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)

  City of Renton v. Playtime Theaters (1986) said that zoning laws aimed at undesirable secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses may not violate the...

• Doran v. Salem Inn (1975)

  Doran v. Salem Inn (1975) considered a First Amendment challenge to an ordinance banning topless dancing in nightclubs. The ruling touched briefly on freedom of...

• New York State Liquor Authority v. Bellanca (1981)

  New York State Liquor Authority v. Bellanca (1981) found that banning nude dancing in places where alcohol is sold is not a violation of the First Amendment’s...

• Schad v. Mount Ephraim (1981)

  Schad v. Mount Ephraim (1981) ruled that a city's zoning laws must conform to the First Amendment and struck down a regulation that banned all live performances...

• Young v. American Mini Theatres (1976)

  In 1976, the Supreme Court introduced the secondary effects doctrine in upholding zoning of adult businesses in Detroit. In Young v. American Mini Theaters, the...