With Introduction by Lewis Loflin
A rare win for sanity: a federal judge in Nashville slapped down their 1997 adult club ordinance, proving not every court bows to petty tyrants. As a Deist, I cheer this blow against government meddling in legal businesses—here, Deja Vu’s “gentleman’s club.” Contrast that with Sullivan County, where Show Palace and Bottoms Up got crushed by similar Bible-thumper rules, upheld by Tennessee’s stacked courts. This report from late 1999 highlights the Nashville ruling and its flicker of hope for Sullivan’s fight. Government here’s still a brothel without the sex—pushing “morality” over rights—but this shows cracks in their armor.
NASHVILLE - A federal judge says the city cannot enforce an adult entertainment ordinance requiring, among other things, that customers stay at least three feet away from topless dancers. U.S. District Judge Thomas Higgins struck down a 1997 ordinance that mandated the three-foot rule, required sexually oriented businesses to apply for a license, and forced them to close by 3 a.m.
The city, which has 30 days to appeal the decision, was also ordered to pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees amounting to more than $350,000. “My clients are pleased that a form of governmental regulation is not breathing down their necks,” said John Herbison, attorney for the plaintiff, Deja Vu of Nashville Inc.
Deja Vu, which bills itself as a “gentleman’s club,” had applied for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ordinance. Higgins made the injunction permanent on Dec. 21, barring the city from enforcing the ordinance.
Meanwhile, two attorneys on the eastern end of the state disagreed whether the ruling would affect a lawsuit against Sullivan County, which adopted an ordinance in July 1998 requiring customers to stay six feet away from dancers. Based mostly on a Chattanooga statute, the county’s local-option state law led Show Palace and Bottoms Up to sue, claiming it was unconstitutional and designed to shutter them. Both clubs lost at the Chancery Court level in February 1999, with oral arguments in their appeal heard in December in Knoxville.
Sullivan County Attorney Dan Street argued the lawsuits and regulations differ. “The Nashville case involved a municipal ordinance, which is a completely different ordinance” than the 1998 state law, Street said. But John Parker, the Kingsport attorney representing Bottoms Up, saw similarities. The county law bans complete nudity, keeps patrons and dancers six feet apart, requires dancer licensing, and prohibits alcohol on premises. “That’s the best New Year’s news I’ve heard,” Parker said Thursday. “These [regulations] are similar.”
Nashville officials have not decided whether to appeal the ruling. “I still believe this community wants to have some reasonable regulations for these types of establishments,” City Councilman Chris Ferrell said. “We will evaluate whether it is in our best interest to appeal this or draft a law we think will be constitutional. We’ve learned a lot in this process and thought we were being responsible in correcting whatever problem the judge had with the law.”
The city retains the ability to regulate sexually oriented businesses through its zoning ordinance. Such businesses can locate only in the adult entertainment overlay within the downtown business district, not within 500 feet of any church, school, or park, nor closer than 150 feet to another adult business. First Amendment experts say topless dancing is a protected form of free speech.
“Some government officials tend to pass these regulations just because they dislike these businesses, which is one of the dangers,” said David Hudson, attorney at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. “On the other hand, government should have the power to regulate. You just hope they don’t totally ignore the First Amendment.” The city has a half-dozen or so topless dancing clubs and approximately a dozen adult bookstores.
Update for 2008: All appeals have failed, and the local laws have been upheld.
John Nelson Darby
Christian Premillennialism