The owners of an adult book store are asking a federal judge to declare that a law on adult businesses is unconstitutional.
The lawyers for R&R Books told a judge last week that the city’s law to regulate adult businesses was illegal because it is based on the notion that such businesses contribute to an increase in crime, the Pioneer Press reported Saturday.
At issue is the city’s effort to close down the bookstore and two other businesses to make way for an office development. The bookstore is the last adult business near the intersection of Dale Street and University Avenue which once housed the Faust and Flick adult theaters and the Belmont strip club, which is now used as a police station.
Under the city’s current law, the bookstore’s use as a movie theater and bookstore is not permitted, but Randall Teague, a lawyer for the bookstore, said the city’s condemnation of the business should be halted because it can’t be relocated anywhere else in the city due to its regulations.
Teague argued that the city’s actions are unconstitutional because it restricts the freedom of expression.
Although such arguments help adult businesses, the city says it can regulate them if it can show studies that demomstrate that the business increases local crime or other social problems.
But even U.S. District Judge Michael Davis has said the city’s “shoddy studies” are not sufficient to justify its action against the bookstore.
Lawyers for the bookstore point to a recent case involving a Minneapolis strip club that won its case on similar grounds.
A hearing on the case is scheduled for July 25.
