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Missouri strip club legislation declared unconstitutional

chitownlawyer

Florida

Yesterday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the new strip club law that was to take effect Thursday constitutes an unconstitutional limits on First Amendment rights, specifically freedom of expression. The law would have, among other things, prevented dancers from working within ten feet of each other, would have prevented any contact between dancers and customers, and would have make it a misdemeanor for a customer to put a bill in a dancer's garter belt.

Missouri is not exactly a big state for clubs, largely because the two major metropolitan areas in the state have their own restrictions on adult entertainment. However, there are some decent little clubs in a few of the smaller towns. The St. Louis ordinances were pushed through at the insistence of a long-tenured prosecuting attorney whose career at the bar was ended when he met an undercover cop in a hotel room during a prostitution sting.