City of Erie, et al. v. Pap's A. M., Tdba 'Kandyland' (529 U.S. 277)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 29, 2000 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 529 U.S. 277 · 120 S. Ct. 1382
- Decided
- March 29, 2000
- Term
- October Term 1999
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and II, and an opinion with respect to Parts III and IV, in which The Chief Justice, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Breyer join. The city of Erie, Pennsylvania, enacted an ordinance banning public nudity. Respondent Pap’s A. M. (hereinafter Pap’s), which operated a nude dancing establishment in Erie, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance and sought a permanent injunction against its enforcement. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, although noting that this Court in Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U. S. 560 (1991), had upheld an Indiana ordinance that was “strikingly similar” to Erie’s, found that the public nudity sections of the ordinance violated respondent’s right to freedom of expression under the United States Constitution. 553 Pa. 348, 356, 719 A. 2d 273, 277 (1998). This ease raises the question whether the Pennsylvania Supreme Court properly evaluated the ordinance’s constitutionality under the First Amendment. Wé hold that Erie’s ordinance is a content-neutral regulation that satisfies the four-part test of United States v. O’Brien, 391 U. S. 367 (1968). Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and remand for the consideration of any remaining issues. I On September 28,1994, the city council for the city of Erie,…
Excerpt of a 39,576-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.