The ordinance, if the court sided with the city, would ban companies such as strip clubs and adult bookstores from working between 2am and 6am
DALASI - Sexually oriented companies in Dallas are fighting the city over a new regulation restricting their working hours, and so far the court has sided with them - issuing a preliminary ban on the regulation not coming into force.
The court also rejected the City’s request to dismiss the lawsuit against them, according to a court document released on Tuesday.
City council members unanimously passed a decree in January requiring sexually oriented businesses - such as cabaret and adult bookstores - to close from 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. On the same day, four adult cabaret, an adult bookstore and a non-profit trade association whose members include sexually oriented businesses that have filed a complaint against the city, claiming the ordinance violates their right to freedom of expression under the First Amendment.
Judge Barbara MG Lin of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas wrote in a court document that the speech on the target of the ordinance - nude dancing and material sold in adult bookstores - is protected and considers the restriction of this ordinance unconstitutional. .
“The city states that it has adopted the Decree on the reduction of crime and the preservation of police and fire resources, by limiting the work of the SOB from 2 to 6 o’clock in the morning,” the document states. However, even assuming that this goal is a convincing interest of the government, there is no evidence that the City considered it less restrictive to achieve its stated interest in reducing crime, such as demanding increased security, escorting customers to their vehicles. , that is, better lighting, before she decided to ban the operation of the SOB between 2 and 6 o’clock in the morning “
The court determined that the data on crime, which the City stated as wrong, because the data would indicate that from 2019 to 2021, non-operational sexually oriented companies committed more violent crimes between 2 and 6 o’clock in the morning. than sexually oriented companies that operate as bookstores.
The inclusion of non-SOB crimes is also problematic in the second observed issue with City crime data, namely that the inclusion of data on crimes that occurred at locations within a 500-foot radius of the SOB does not necessarily reflect crimes that are the result of activities in SOB “, the document states. “[DPD] Lieutenant [Stephen] Bishop testified that, depending on the specific SOB, his data may include an unrelated crime that occurred within 500 feet of the SOB’s location. “
Since city data includes crimes that could have occurred, say, 495 feet from a closed cabaret, the data exaggerates the amount of criminal activity and the need for police resources that can be attributed to such types of business.
“The City’s data do not link reasonably regulated activity - protected expression on SOBs - with harmful secondary effects, ie increased crime reports, arrests and calls to service,” the document reads.
The decision of the Court concluded that the burden of the right of companies to freedom of speech and expression from the First Amendment is greater than the burden of the City in dealing with increased crime and spending of resources, if any, related to sexually oriented companies.
Moreover, if the ban is passed, the City will be deprived exclusively of the opportunity to implement the law that violates the First Amendment, for which the Fifth Round acknowledged that “there is no harm”, the decision concludes.