CHICAGO — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by the owners of a strip club to hear its appeal of last year’s Illinois Supreme Court decision to uphold a city ordinance banning semi-nude dancing in clubs that serve liquor.
In 1993, Pooh Bah Entertainment, the owners of VIP’s, sued the city on free-speech grounds to keep the city from revoking its liquor license.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that the Supreme Court did not take up the case,” Robert Corn-Revere, Pooh Bah Entertainment’s attorney, told Chicago Business News. “Local regulation of topless dancing is now subject to a great deal of confusion in the lower courts. Given the volume of cases in this area, some clarity would have been welcome.”
According to the report, despite its revoked license, VIP’s has continued to provide both liquor and seminude dancing — the only such business in Chicago — during the fourteen year court battle.
Benna Ruth Solomon, deputy corporation counsel, who argued the city’s case before the Illinois Supreme Court, told Chicago Business News that "We’re pleased the court denied the petition.”
