FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas

493 U.S. 215, 110 S. Ct. 596, 107 L. Ed. 2d 603, 1990 U.S. LEXIS 334
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedJanuary 10, 1990
Docket87-2012
StatusPublished
Cited by2,019 cases

This text of 493 U.S. 215 (FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 110 S. Ct. 596, 107 L. Ed. 2d 603, 1990 U.S. LEXIS 334 (1990).

Opinions

[220]*220Justice O’Connor

announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, and an opinion with respect to Part II, in which Justice Stevens and Justice Kennedy join.

These cases call upon us to decide whether a licensing scheme in a comprehensive city ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses is a prior restraint that fails to provide adequate procedural safeguards as required by Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U. S. 51 (1965). We must also decide whether any petitioner has standing to address the ordinance’s civil disability provisions, whether the city has sufficiently justified its requirement that motels renting rooms for fewer than 10 hours be covered by the ordinance, and whether the ordinance impermissibly infringes on the right to freedom of association. As this litigation comes to us, no issue is presented with respect to whether the books, videos, materials, or entertainment available through sexually oriented businesses are obscene pornographic materials.

I

On June 18,1986, the city council of the city of Dallas unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 19196 regulating sexually oriented businesses, which was aimed at eradicating the secondary effects of crime and urban blight. The ordinance, as amended, defines a “sexually oriented business” as “an adult arcade, adult bookstore or adult video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater, escort agency, nude model studio, or sexual encounter center.” Dallas City Code, ch. 41A, Sexually Oriented Businesses §41A-2(19) (1986). The ordinance regulates sexually oriented businesses through a scheme incorporating zoning, li[221]*221censing, and inspections. The ordinance also includes a civil disability provision, which prohibits individuals convicted of certain crimes from obtaining a license to operate a sexually oriented business for a specified period of years.

Three separate suits were filed challenging the ordinance on numerous grounds and seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief as well as declaratory relief. Suits were brought by the following groups of individuals and businesses: those involved in selling, exhibiting, or distributing publications or video or motion picture films; adult cabarets or establishments providing live nude dancing or films, motion pictures, videocassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions depicting sexual activities and anatomy specified in the ordinance; and adult motel owners. Following expedited discovery, petitioners’ constitutional claims were resolved through cross-motions for summary judgment. After a hearing, the District Court upheld the bulk of the ordinance, striking only four subsections. See Dumas v. Dallas, 648 F. Supp. 1061 (ND Tex. 1986). The District Court struck two subsections, §§41A-5(a)(8) and 41A-5(c), on the ground that they vested overbroad discretion in the chief of police, contrary to our holding in Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 394 U. S. 147, 150-151 (1969). See 648 F. Supp., at 1072-1073. The District Court also struck the provision that imposed a civil disability merely on the basis of an indictment or information, reasoning that there were less restrictive alternatives to achieve the city’s goals. See id., at 1075 (citing United States v. O’Brien, 391 U. S. 367 (1968)). Finally, the District Court held that five enumerated crimes from the list of those creating civil disability were unconstitutional because they were not sufficiently related to the purpose of the ordinance. See 648 F. Supp., at 1074 (striking bribery, robbery, kidnaping, organized criminal activity, and violations of controlled substances Acts). The city of Dallas subsequently [222]*222amended the ordinance in conformity with the District Court’s judgment.

The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed. 837 F. 2d 1298 (1988). Viewing the ordinance as a content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation under Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U. S. 41 (1986), the Court of Appeals upheld the ordinance against petitioners’ facial attack on the ground that it is “ ‘designed to serve a substantial government interest’ ” and allowed for “ ‘reasonable alternative avenues of communication.’” 837 F. 2d, at 1303 (quoting Renton, supra, at 47). The Court of Appeals further concluded that the licensing scheme’s failure to provide the procedural safeguards set forth in Freedman v. Maryland, supra, withstood constitutional challenge, because such procedures are less important when regulating “the conduct of an ongoing commercial enterprise.” 837 F. 2d, at 1303.

Additionally, the Court of Appeals upheld the provision of the ordinance providing that motel owners renting rooms for fewer than 10 hours were “adult motel owners” and, as such, were required to obtain a license under the ordinance. See §§41A-2(4), 41A-18. The motel owners attacked the provision on the ground that the city had made no finding that adult motels engendered the evils the city was attempting to redress. The Court of Appeals concluded that the 10-hour limitation was based on the reasonable supposition that short rental periods facilitate prostitution, one of the secondary effects the city was attempting to remedy. See 837 F. 2d, at 1304.

Finally, the Court of Appeals upheld the civil disability provisions, as modified by the District Court, on the ground that the relationship between “the offense and the evil to be regulated is direct and substantial.” Id., at 1305.

We granted petitioners’ application for a stay of the mandate except for the holding that the provisions of the ordinance regulating the location of sexually oriented businesses do not violate the Federal Constitution, 485 U. S. [223]*2231042 (1988), and granted certiorari, 489 U. S. 1051 (1989). We now reverse in part and affirm in part.

I — I HH

We granted certiorari on the issue whether the licensing scheme is an unconstitutional prior restraint that fails to provide adequate procedural safeguards as required by Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U. S. 51 (1965). Petitioners involved in the adult entertainment industry and adult cabarets argue that the licensing scheme fails to set a time limit within which the licensing authority must issue a license and, therefore, creates the likelihood of arbitrary denials and the concomitant suppression of speech. Because we conclude that the city’s licensing scheme lacks adequate procedural safeguards, we do not reach the issue decided by the Court of Appeals whether the ordinance is properly viewed as a content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction aimed at secondary effects arising out of the sexually oriented businesses. Cf. Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U. S. 546, 562 (1975).

A

We note at the outset that petitioners raise a facial challenge to the licensing scheme. Although facial challenges to legislation are generally disfavored, they have been permitted in the First Amendment context where the licensing scheme vests unbridled discretion in the decisionmaker and where the regulation is challenged as overbroad. See City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U. S. 789, 798, and n. 15 (1984). In Freedman,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

(HC) Hand v. Barr
E.D. California, 2021
In Re: Deepwater Horizon
Fifth Circuit, 2017
Kachalsky v. Cacace
817 F. Supp. 2d 235 (S.D. New York, 2011)
Marciano v. Shulman
795 F. Supp. 2d 35 (District of Columbia, 2011)
Iowa Right to Life Committee, Inc. v. Tooker
795 F. Supp. 2d 852 (S.D. Iowa, 2011)
Doe v. Holder
665 F. Supp. 2d 426 (S.D. New York, 2009)
Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Nicholson
536 F.3d 730 (Seventh Circuit, 2008)
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Texas Attorney General Reports, 2008
Ramirez v. MGM Mirage, Inc.
524 F. Supp. 2d 1226 (D. Nevada, 2007)
Doe v. Gonzales
500 F. Supp. 2d 379 (S.D. New York, 2007)
S.G. v. District of Columbia
498 F. Supp. 2d 304 (District of Columbia, 2007)
Coulombe v. Jolly
447 F. Supp. 2d 1117 (C.D. California, 2006)
Bagner v. United States
428 F. Supp. 2d 101 (N.D. New York, 2006)
Casanova Entertainment Group, Inc. v. City of New Rochelle
375 F. Supp. 2d 321 (S.D. New York, 2005)
Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Roy, Utah
333 F. Supp. 2d 1168 (D. Utah, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
493 U.S. 215, 110 S. Ct. 596, 107 L. Ed. 2d 603, 1990 U.S. LEXIS 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fwpbs-inc-v-city-of-dallas-scotus-1990.