Show Me State Showdown: Nudity or Not?
joker44
In the wind
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 9:06 PM
Tomorrow, September 7th the Missouri Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an appeal of the state's adult entertainment law, popularly known as the MO Strip Club Law, although it includes other adult oriented businesses such as bookstores.
In the absence of a summary judgment by the court a decision likely won't be handed down until later this month or early in October. Many adult business owners including strip club owners continue to operate despite significant loss of revenue and migration of entertainers to other states while awaiting the court's decision. An unfavorable ruling would force many owners to consider closing or changing to a more profitable, less regulated form of entertainment.
Those of you who take pleasure in reading legal briefs :-) can follow this link to the Court's web page that presents a summary of the law and appeal filings along with Adobe pdfs of business owners appeal and state attorney general's response.
[view link]
Owners say the law violates First Amendment freedom of speech by placing undue restrictions on sexually oriented expression. They also say the legislature failed to conduct an adequate economic impact study mandated by MO law and requested by one legislator. They also challenge the validity of the “secondary effects†testimony used by the legislature to justify the new restrictions with data of their own.
One of the plaintiffs is Michael Ocello, who is described as president of a publicly traded company that operates a national chain of upscale adult cabarets. He's represented by the Cleveland, Ohio law firm of BERKMAN, GORDON, MURRAY & DEVAN. Any tuslers recognize this guy?
Obviously, the legal impact of the court's decision is limited to Missouri. But the law is based entirely on model legislation drafted by Scott Bergthold, a lawyer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His practice, according to his web site, is the "nation's only law firm focused exclusively on drafting and defense of municipal adult business regulations."
Bergthold's model law is the basis of the proposed Kansas SC law and served as a basis for proposed legislation in other jurisdictions across the US, including Ohio and Oregon [not enacted]. The Kansas governor and a majority of both legislative houses favored passage of the law. It only failed when KS house members adamantly refused to accept modifications proposed by several state senators.
A court decision substantially upholding the constitutionality of Missouri's law could favorably influence passage in Kansas. And other states, counties, and cities around the US considering increased regulation of adult entertainment would be encouraged to base their regulations on Bergthold's model since they could expect little in the way of successful court challenges.
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