LOS ANGELES : Justices Uphold Challenge to Curbs on Adult Businesses
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to squelch a challenge to a Los Angeles zoning ordinance aimed at strictly limiting where X-rated movie houses and adult bookstores are located.
The justices, without comment, let stand rulings that stopped city officials from enforcing the ordinance.
Owners of adult businesses sued the city in 1991, contending that the ordinance violates free-speech rights because it is too restrictive.
The ordinance, originally enacted in 1978 and strengthened in subsequent years, eventually was made to apply retroactively, requiring many existing adult businesses to relocate.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gadbois Jr. issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the ordinance until its constitutionality could be determined.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that preliminary injunction last year, saying, “A real question exists about whether the ordinance provides the adult businesses with constitutionally sufficient alternative relocation sites.”
The ordinance bars such businesses within 500 feet of any residence, church, school or park, and within 1,000 feet of any other adult business.
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