Last month's Erie v. PAP's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court continues to show fallout, as three more localities around the United States debate adult businesses in the wake of that Court ruling.
Here, a continuing battle against adult businesses is moving to three fronts: a rewritten law banning sexual contact in businesses; City Council members ordering the city attorney to re-introduce a prospective public nudity ban along the lines of the law upheld in Erie; and potential City Council discussions on zoning regulations on adult businesses.
The council delayed a vote in February on the public nudity ban until the Erie ruling came down. The Lincoln Journal-Star suggests the city might want to make any public nudity ban identical to the Erie, Pa. law.
Ogden, Utah, meanwhile, sees the Erie ruling as ammunition to move toward banning nude dance clubs, even as the city faces the prospect of its first such club. The Ogden City Council on April 18 approved a resolution ordering the city attorney to rewrite a sexually oriented business ordinance to require breasts and genitalia be covered on dancers. This is a change, just like the one South Salt Lake is mulling.
And in North Brunswick, N.J., the Town Council wants to become New Jersey's first to ban nude dancing. Their proposal would affect Virgo's, a club which re-opened against town officials' hopes and has been cited, reportedly, for two liquor law violations. North Brunswick, too, is modeling their prospective ban on the Erie law.
"The Erie decision is grossly misunderstood by many people," Ira Weiner, a lawyer who has represented go-go bars, told the Bergen Record. "It does not give towns carte blanche to ban nude dancing. If a town attorney says it gives a town the right to ban nude dancing, that town attorney is giving them very bad advice." He said North Brunswick would first have to prove Virgo's caused or abetted real trouble.
