F I L E D

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

NOV 18 2002

PATRICK FISHER

Clerk

PUBLISH

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

TENTH CIRCUIT

Z. J. GIFTS D-4, L.L.C., a Colorado

Limited Liability Company, doing

business as Christal’s,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

CITY OF LITTLETON, an Incorporated

Home Rule Municipal Corporation,

Defendant - Appellee.

No. 01-1220

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Colorado

(D.C. No. 99-N-1696)

Michael W. Gross (Arthur M. Schwartz with him on the briefs) of Schwartz &

Goldberg, P.C., Denver, Colorado for the Plaintiff-Appellant.

J. Andrew Nathan (Heidi J. Hugdahl with him on the brief) of Nathan, Bremer,

Dumm & Myers, P.C., Denver, Colorado for the Defendant-Appellee.

Before BRISCOE, Circuit Judge, BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge, and

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.
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This case raises several First Amendment issues, including one in which the

circuits are substantially divided: namely, the extent to which prompt judicial

review must be assured in adult-business licensing cases. Plaintiff Z.J. Gifts D-4,

L.L.C. (“ZJ”) brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the City of

Littleton’s (“City’s” or “Littleton’s”) adult business ordinance as unconstitutional,

seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and damages. The

district court granted summary judgment to the City. We have jurisdiction under

28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse in part and affirm in part.

I

In 1993, the City passed an ordinance requiring businesses that specialize

in adult entertainment or merchandise to obtain licenses, and restricting those

businesses to certain areas of Littleton. Before passing its ordinance, the City

Council heard testimony and reviewed reports from other cities concerning

deleterious effects of adult businesses on property values and on crime rates.

In the fall of 1999, ZJ opened its store, known as Christal’s, on South

Broadway in Littleton. Prior to the opening of Christal’s, the City informed the

owner of the property on which Christal’s was located that adult businesses were

not permitted at this South Broadway location. In late August 1999—shortly

before Christal’s opened—ZJ filed a § 1983 suit against the City seeking

monetary, declaratory, and injunctive relief. ZJ’s complaint alleged that
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Littleton’s ordinance was unconstitutional because, among other things, it

infringed ZJ’s First Amendment rights. ZJ also alleged that it did not intend to

operate an “adult business establishment” as defined in Littleton’s ordinance. (1

Appellant’s App. at 11.)

On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court ruled in favor of

the City, concluding that ZJ was covered by Littleton’s ordinance and that the

ordinance was, in its entirety, constitutional. After the district court’s decision in

this case and during the briefing for this appeal, the City amended its ordinance,

clarifying certain corporate disclosure requirements and changing an age

restriction for adult businesses that do not offer live entertainment. Littleton,

Colo., Ordinance 13 (2001) (codified at Littleton, Colo., City Code § 3-14-2, -5,

-8, -16 (2002)).

II

Both as originally enacted and as amended, Littleton’s ordinance has two

primary functions: (1) it requires all adult businesses within Littleton to obtain

licenses to operate within the City’s borders, and (2) it restricts those businesses

to certain sections of the City and requires that they not locate within a minimum

distance of other specified sites.

Among the adult businesses covered by Littleton’s ordinance, Christal’s

would most likely qualify as an “adult bookstore, adult novelty store, or adult
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video store.” Littleton, Colo., City Code § 3-14-2. A commercial establishment

falls into this category if, as judged by percentage of stock-in-trade, revenue, or

advertising, it is primarily devoted to the sale of materials that are characterized

by the depiction or description of “specified sexual activities” or “specified

anatomical areas,” regardless of whether the establishment has other business

purposes. Id. “Specified anatomical areas” are further defined as: “(A) Less

than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttocks,

anus or female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areolae; or

(B) Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and

opaquely covered.” Id. “Specified sexual activities” are defined to include

masturbation, fondling of the genitals and other specified areas, excretory

functions, human genitals in a state of “sexual stimulation, arousal or

tumescence,” and “normal or perverted” sex acts. Id.

No adult business covered by Littleton’s ordinance may operate within fivehundred feet of a church, school, child-care facility, public park, massage parlor

regulated by local ordinances, or community correctional facility. Id. § 3-14-3. 

Adult businesses also may not operate within one-thousand feet of each other or a

massage parlor regulated by state law. Id. In addition, multiple adult businesses

may not operate within the same structure. Id.
1

 In amending its ordinance in 2001, the City added more specific

corporate disclosure requirements, but did not significantly alter the key

provisions. Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 13 (2001).

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Under Littleton’s ordinance, operation of an adult business within the City

requires a license. Among other things, a license application must indicate or

provide: names of all owners, managers, and employees of the business;

information about whether the applicant has had an adult-business license denied,

revoked, or suspended by any jurisdiction; an indication whether the applicant has

adult-business licenses from other jurisdictions; the address, driver’s license

number, and social security number of the applicant and all owners, managers,

and employees; a floor plan for the proposed business; a written statement by the

City’s Zoning Officer that the proposed location is in compliance with the

ordinance; and a statement of whether an owner, manager, or employee of the

business has been convicted of specified criminal acts.1 Id. § 3-14-5. Certain

specified persons must also be fingerprinted and photographed by the Police

Department. Id.

After an application has been submitted, the City Clerk has thirty days to

approve or deny the license. Id. § 3-14-8. The Clerk may deny an application for

one or more specified reasons, including: the applicant is under twenty-one years

old; the applicant has made a false statement on the application; the applicant or

any owner has had an adult-business license revoked or suspended within
2

 This is the time limit under the amended ordinance. Before the

amendments, the ordinance gave the applicant only ten days to request a hearing

before the City Manager. Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 27 (1993).

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Colorado in the past year; the applicant has operated an adult business deemed to

be a public nuisance in the past year; a corporate applicant is not in good standing

or authorized to conduct business in Colorado; the applicant is overdue in any city

taxes, fees, fines, or penalties assessed in relation to an adult business; the

applicant has failed to obtain the required sales-tax license; or the applicant has

been convicted of specified criminal acts. Id. Specified criminal acts for the

purposes of the ordinance are defined as: “Sexual crimes against children, sexual

abuse, rape or crimes connected with another adult business, including

distribution of obscenity, prostitution, pandering or tax violation.” Id. § 3-14-2.

If the clerk denies the application, the applicant then has twenty days to

appeal the denial to the City Manager,2 who must hold a hearing within thirty

days. Id. § 3-14-8. If that appeal is denied, the applicant may seek review in

state court pursuant to Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 106(a)(4). Id.

Licenses are issued for one-year terms and may be renewed only by filing a

renewal application. Id. §§ 3-14-9, -10. Licenses may be suspended for one or

more specified grounds. Id. § 3-14-11. Suspension or revocation may only occur

after a hearing before the City Manager and may be appealed to state court. Id.

Finally, under the amended ordinance, all adult businesses in Littleton that do not
3

 Under the original ordinance, admission to all adult businesses was

limited to persons over twenty-one. Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 27 (1993).

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provide live entertainment are required to restrict entrance to individuals who are

eighteen or older.3

 Id. § 3-14-16.

III

We initially determine whether there is an Article III case or controversy

before us. Essence, Inc. v. City of Fed. Heights, 285 F.3d 1272, 1280 (10th Cir.

2002). Standing is an essential part of the case-or-controversy requirement of

Article III. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560 (1992). There are

three elements to Article III standing: (1) injury-in-fact, (2) causation, and (3)

redressability. Essence, 285 F.3d at 1280. An injury-in-fact is an “‘invasion of a

legally protected interest’ that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or

imminent, i.e., not conjectural or hypothetical.” Id. (quoting Defenders of

Wildlife, 504 U.S. at 560). Causation requires a showing that the injury is

“‘fairly trace[able] to the challenged action of the defendant,’ rather than some

third party not before the court.” Id. (quoting Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. at

560). Redressability means that it is “likely that a favorable court decision will

redress the injury of the plaintiff.” Id. “The burden to establish standing rests on

the party invoking federal jurisdiction.” Id. When the case has been resolved in

the district court on summary judgment grounds, “‘a plaintiff must establish that
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there exists no genuine issue of material fact as to justiciability,’ and ‘mere

allegations’ of injury, causation, and redressability are insufficient.” Id. (quoting

Dep’t of Commerce v. United States House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 329

(1999)).

A

Standing usually requires that the plaintiff assert an injury to himself,

rather than injuries to third parties not before the court. However, this rule is not

strictly enforced in the context of facial challenges to laws as violative of the

First Amendment, even though a facial challenge to the validity of a statute

necessarily entails a challenge to the statute as applied to third parties besides the

plaintiff:

In the area of freedom of expression it is well established that one

has standing to challenge a statute on the ground that it delegates

overly broad licensing discretion to an administrative office, whether

or not his conduct could be proscribed by a properly drawn statute,

and whether or not he applied for a license.

Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51, 56 (1965); see also FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of

Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 223 (1990) (opinion of O’Connor, J.) (“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.”). “A

form of unbridled discretion is the failure to place brief, specific time limits on
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the decision-making process.” Nightclubs, Inc. v. City of Paducah, 202 F.3d 884,

889 (6th Cir. 2000); see also FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 223–24 (opinion of O’Connor,

J.) (stating that unbridled discretion includes licensing schemes that create a

“‘risk of delay’ such that ‘every application of the statute creates an

impermissible risk of suppression of ideas’” (quotations omitted)).

Littleton’s ordinances include within their purview sexually explicit speech,

and the City does not contest that this speech is protected by the First

Amendment. ZJ’s challenge to Littleton’s licensing system is based both on a

claim that the City vests too much discretion in licensing officials in granting or

denying a license, and that the system creates a risk of delay in granting or

denying a license. Thus, ZJ has standing to bring a facial challenge to the

licensing system on these two grounds.

It is true that the overbreadth doctrine discussed above “does not eliminate

the need for the plaintiff to demonstrate its own cognizable injury in fact.” Nat’l

Council for Improved Health v. Shalala, 122 F.3d 878, 883 (10th Cir. 1997). But

this requirement is satisfied where the plaintiff is engaged “in a course of conduct

arguably affected with a constitutional interest, but proscribed by a statute, and

there exists a credible threat of prosecution.” Babbitt v. United Farm Workers

Nat’l Union, 442 U.S. 289, 298 (1979). Such a plaintiff need not wait until an

actual criminal prosecution has begun. Id.
4

 In supplemental briefing the City explicitly waived the applicability of

abstention under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). A state may voluntarily

submit to federal jurisdiction even though it might have had a tenable claim for

abstention. See Ohio Civil Rights Comm’n v. Dayton Christian Sch., Inc., 477

U.S. 619, 626 (1986) (citing cases in which Younger abstention was waived).

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ZJ’s business depends in part on its ability to sell materials that are

protected by the First Amendment. ZJ has alleged in its complaint that the City

views it as an adult business that is in violation of the licensing requirements of

the ordinance, and it has also presented a letter from the City denying ZJ’s salestax license application because ZJ’s business “may be categorized as an adult

business.” (3 Appellant’s App. at 450.) ZJ has thus adequately shown that, at

least from the City’s perspective, its business is proscribed by the ordinance.

Finally, the City has proceeded with a civil complaint in state court against

ZJ for violation of the ordinance based on ZJ’s failure to apply for an adultbusiness license and ZJ’s operation of an adult business without a license.4

 While

ZJ’s sales-tax license application was denied and a civil complaint was brought in

state court only after ZJ’s federal complaint was filed, these events nonetheless

are evidence that when ZJ filed its lawsuit there was “a credible threat of

prosecution” under Littleton’s ordinance and that the threat of prosecution

continues. Babbitt, 442 U.S. at 298; see also id. at 302 (indicating that standing

exists “when fear of criminal prosecution under an allegedly unconstitutional

statute is not imaginary or wholly speculative”). ZJ has satisfied the injury-in-
5

 While ZJ has never applied for an adult-business license, this is not a

requirement for standing to mount a facial challenge against an ordinance. See

ACORN v. Municipality of Golden, 744 F.2d 739, 744 (10th Cir. 1984)

(“Applying for and being denied a license or an exemption is not a condition

precedent to bringing a facial challenge to an unconstitutional law.”).

ZJ, the City argues, has no standing to challenge the licensing requirements

of the ordinance because—even if such a challenge were successful—ZJ would

nonetheless be in violation of the location requirements of the ordinance. 

However, ZJ challenges both sets of requirements, and if both challenges are

successful, then ZJ will obtain its desired relief. See N. Ave. Novelties, Inc. v.

City of Chicago, 88 F.3d 441, 443–44 (7th Cir. 1996). In addition, the parties’

supplemental briefs reveal that the City is charging ZJ with separately violating

both the licensing and location requirements. Thus, even if ZJ only succeeds in

its challenge to the licensing provisions, it will nonetheless obtain some relief

against prosecution by the City.

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fact requirement because the City has taken steps to enforce the ordinance against

ZJ.5

B

ZJ also has standing to challenge the location requirements in Littleton’s

ordinance. Both parties agree that ZJ’s business is located on a site in which

adult businesses are not permitted under the ordinance. Based on the location of

ZJ’s business, the City has refused to grant ZJ a sales-tax license, and the City’s

complaint in state court is based in part on the location of ZJ’s business. This is

sufficient evidence for ZJ to meet the injury-in-fact requirement. By enacting and

enforcing its ordinance, the City brought about ZJ’s injury, and injunctive and

declaratory relief, if granted by this court, would redress ZJ’s injury.
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C

ZJ has challenged the provisions in Littleton’s ordinance that require the

City to reject adult-business license applications when the applicant has been

convicted of specified past criminal acts. ZJ has never alleged that these

restrictions would apply to any of the owners or operators of ZJ’s business. ZJ

therefore has not even argued that it might be affected by these provisions in

Littleton’s ordinance, and accordingly it does not have standing to challenge these

provisions. See FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 234 (stating that for a party to have

standing to challenge a similar provision in a Dallas ordinance, “the individual

must show both (1) a conviction of one or more of the enumerated crimes, and (2)

that the conviction or release from confinement occurred recently enough to

disable the applicant under the ordinance”).

ZJ also attacks the ordinance’s license revocation and suspension

provisions. ZJ, however, has never obtained a license from the City, nor has it

indicated that it plans to obtain a license. Instead, ZJ stated in its complaint that

it “does not intend to operate an adult entertainment establishment in a B-2 zone.” 

(1 Appellant’s App. at 11.) ZJ has neither alleged nor provided any evidence that

the licensing suspension or revocation proceedings will apply to it. As it is “pure

conjecture,” Essence, 285 F.3d at 1281, whether ZJ will be forced to comply with
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these provisions of the ordinance, ZJ likewise does not have standing to challenge

these provisions. Cf. id. (holding that an adult business did not have standing to 

challenge a city’s provisions for the granting of a license because the business

already had a license and had not alleged any facts indicating that it would need

to reapply for a license).

D

ZJ decries as overly vague the ordinance’s definition of an “adult

bookstore, adult novelty store, or adult video store” as a business that “devotes a

significant or substantial portion” of its floor space, inventory, or advertising to

adult materials, or that obtains “a significant or substantial portion” of its revenue

from those materials. Littleton, Colo. City Code § 3-14-2.

In the First Amendment context, the Supreme Court has determined that a

plaintiff may have standing to challenge a statute as overly vague with respect to

third parties even if the suspect statute is “unquestionably applicable” to the

plaintiff. Young v. Am. Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 59–60 (1976) (“On

several occasions we have determined that a defendant whose own speech was

unprotected had standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute which

purported to prohibit protected speech, or even speech arguably protected.”). 

This “exception from traditional rules of standing” reflects the Supreme Court’s

judgment that “the very existence of some statutes may cause persons not before
6

 Having reviewed the evidence provided by the parties in the present case,

including the videotape of the interior of ZJ’s business, we conclude that the

ordinance is “unquestionably applicable” to ZJ—i.e., a “significant or substantial”

portion of ZJ’s stock-in-trade, interior floor space, or revenue is devoted to

material that is “characterized by the depiction or description” of the defined

“specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas.”

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the Court to refrain from engaging in constitutionally protected speech or

expression.” Id. at 59–60.6

Nevertheless, as the Court in Young explained, “if the statute’s deterrent

effect on legitimate expression is not both ‘real and substantial,’ and if the statute

is ‘readily subject to a narrowing construction by the state courts,’ the litigant is

not permitted to assert the rights of third parties.” Id. at 60 (citation omitted,

quoting Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 216 (1975)). 

In Young, the Court concluded that the ordinance in question did not have a

“real and substantial” deterrent effect on legitimate expression because “there is

surely a less vital interest in the uninhibited exhibition of material that is on the

borderline between pornography and artistic expression than in the free

dissemination of ideas of social and political significance.” Id. at 61. The same

rationale applies equally to the present case. Adult businesses covered by

Littleton’s ordinance are, by definition, likely to carry materials that border on

pornography. Stated simply, in light of Young, Littleton’s ordinance does not

have a “real and substantial” deterrent effect upon “legitimate expression.”
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As to the second issue raised by Young—whether the ordinance is readily

subject to a narrowing construction— we note that language similar to the

“significant or substantial” language used in this ordinance has been interpreted

previously by state courts in a sufficiently narrow manner to avoid constitutional

problems. A common method of narrowing construction has been to develop a

percentage that will act as a guide as to what constitutes “significant or

substantial.” See, e.g., Dandy Co. v. Civil City of South Bend, 401 N.E.2d 1380,

1385–86 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980) (holding that a conviction under a similar ordinance

was sustainable where there was evidence that “50 to 80% of the inventory was

adult in nature”); St. Louis County v. B.A.P., Inc., 25 S.W.3d 629, 630–31 (Mo.

Ct. App. 2000) (noting that a local adult-business ordinance established a

rebuttable presumption that a business carries “a substantial portion” of adultoriented items where more than twenty-five percent of the retail value of the

inventory consists of such items); City of New York v. Les Hommes, 724 N.E.2d

368, 370 (N.Y. 1999) (noting that the City of New York had clarified that a

“substantial portion” for purposes of its adult-business ordinance meant at least

forty percent). We conclude that “the limited amount of uncertainty in the

ordinance[] is easily susceptible of a narrowing construction.” Young, 427 U.S.

at 61.
7

 To the extent that other provisions of Littleton’s ordinance conflict with

this amendment, they have been repealed. Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 13, § 9

(2001).

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In short, we agree with the district court that ZJ “does not have standing to

challenge the constitutionality of [Littleton’s ordinance] under the void for

vagueness doctrine.” (3 Appellant’s App. at 561.)

E

Finally, Littleton’s ordinance as originally enacted prohibited individuals

under twenty-one years of age from being licensees, owners, managers,

employees, or customers of an adult business. ZJ argues that it is unconstitutional

to restrict individuals between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one from entering

or working in its business. We need not address ZJ’s challenge to the age

restrictions, however, because the City has amended its ordinance to provide that

anyone over eighteen years of age may enter an adult business that does not offer

live entertainment.7

 Thus, ZJ’s challenge to the age restrictions on customers and

employees of its business is now moot, and we will not address it.

IV

We now address ZJ’s claims that Littleton’s licensing scheme grants

excessive discretion to licensing officials.

Because this case was decided on summary judgment, we review the district

court’s decision de novo, applying the same legal standard as the district court. 
8

 In the instant case, the City does not argue that the materials sold by

“adult businesses” are obscene and therefore unprotected by the First Amendment. 

The City has therefore effectively made the same concession that the City of

Dallas made in FW/PBS: i.e., that the ordinance applies to businesses that purvey

(continued...)

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Simms v. Oklahoma ex rel. Dep’t of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Servs.,

165 F.3d 1321, 1326 (10th Cir. 1999). Summary judgment is appropriate “if the

pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,

together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any

material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of

law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c) para. 4. “When applying this standard, we view the

evidence and draw reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to

the non-moving party.” Simms, 165 F.3d at 1326. “If there is no genuine issue of

material fact in dispute, we determine whether the district court correctly applied

the substantive law.” Id. In the First Amendment context, “[o]ur review of the

record is more rigorous,” and we are “obligated to make an independent

examination of the record in its entirety.” Essence, 285 F.3d at 1283 (quotation

omitted).

Littleton’s ordinance requires all adult businesses to obtain a license prior

to opening for business. “Adult businesses,” as defined by the ordinance, include

adult bookstores and adult video stores, see Littleton, Colo., City Code § 3-14-2,

that sell materials presumptively protected by the First Amendment.8 A very
8

(...continued)

speech protected by the First Amendment. See FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 224 (noting

that the Dallas ordinance largely targeted businesses that purvey sexually explicit

speech and no claim was made that such materials were unprotected by the First

Amendment).

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similar licensing scheme was analyzed as a “prior restraint” on speech by six of

the Justices of the Supreme Court in FW/PBS. 493 U.S. at 225–30 (opinion of

O’Connor, J.); id. at 238 (Brennan, J., concurring). Following FW/PBS, we have

concluded that “licensing of adult entertainment establishments” must be analyzed

as a prior restraint. Essence, 285 F.3d at 1289–90.

Ordinarily, a duly enacted law is presumed to be constitutional. When a

law infringes on First Amendment rights, however, the proponent of the law bears

the burden of establishing its constitutionality. Wilson v. Stocker, 819 F.2d 943,

949 (10th Cir. 1987). Whether or not Littleton’s ordinance is content-neutral is

not relevant to the burden of proof, because any “system of prior restraint” comes

to this court “bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity.” 

FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 225 (quotation omitted). In the present case, therefore, the

City bears the burden of establishing that Littleton’s ordinance is constitutional.

A

Standards for analysis of a prior restraint of speech were initially developed

in the context of censorship schemes in Freedman, where the Supreme Court held

that (1) a censorship scheme must assure the exhibitor, “by statute or authoritative
- 19 -

judicial construction, that the censor will, within a specified brief period, either

issue a license or go to court to restrain showing the film”; (2) the censorship

scheme must “assure a prompt final judicial decision” following a refusal to

license; and (3) “the burden of proving that the film is unprotected expression

must rest on the censor.” 380 U.S. at 58–59. 

In FW/PBS, a divided Supreme Court considered whether Freedman’s

procedural requirements applied to adult-business licensing schemes as well. 

Two Justices joined Justice O’Connor in announcing the judgment of the Court

that the Dallas licensing scheme at issue was unconstitutional. FW/PBS, 493 U.S.

at 229. Three other Justices concurred but would have gone further in applying

the Freedman requirements. Id. at 238–39 (Brennan, J., concurring). Justice

O’Connor’s opinion characterizes Freedman as mandating that any prior restraint

“that fails to place limits on the time within which the decisionmaker must issue

the license is impermissible,” FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 226, because a “scheme that

fails to set reasonable time limits on the decisionmaker creates the risk of

indefinitely suppressing permissible speech,” FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 227. The

Court in FW/PBS determined that the Dallas ordinance failed to meet this general 

requirement because a license could not be approved without inspection and

approval by the fire department, the health department, and the building official

as being in compliance with relevant laws and ordinances. Id. Even though a
- 20 -

completed license application had to be approved or disapproved within thirty

days after submission, there was nonetheless a risk that the city could endlessly

delay those inspections and approvals in order to postpone consideration of a

license application because there was no time limit for the inspections and

approvals. Id. Concluded the Court: “Thus, the city’s regulatory scheme allows

indefinite postponement of the issuance of a license.” Id.

Justice O’Connor then reiterated the Freedman procedural requirements:

[T]he following three procedural safeguards were necessary to ensure

expeditious decisionmaking by the motion picture censorship board:

(1) any restraint prior to judicial review can be imposed only for a

specified brief period during which the status quo must be

maintained; (2) expeditious judicial review of that decision must be

available; and (3) the censor must bear the burden of going to court

to suppress the speech and must bear the burden of proof once in

court.

Id. at 227. Concluding that the “first two safeguards are essential” to preventing

undue delay in the licensing process, id. at 228, and that the Dallas licensing

scheme “fails to provide an avenue for prompt judicial review” of a license

denial, id. at 229, Justice O’Connor’s opinion held that Freedman’s third

requirement—that the censor bear the burden of obtaining judicial action and of

proof—need not be applied in the context of adult-business licensing schemes. 

Id. at 230. 

The remainder of the Court was sharply divided. Justice Brennan, joined

by two other Justices, agreed that the Dallas ordinance was an unconstitutional
- 21 -

prior restraint, but would have applied all three of the Freedman procedural

requirements. Id. at 238–39 (Brennan, J., concurring). Justice White, joined by

the Chief Justice, concluded that the Dallas ordinance was constitutional and that

none of the Freedman procedural requirements applied because the ordinance was

not a prior restraint. Id. at 245 (White, J., concurring and dissenting). Justice

Scalia concurred in part and dissented in part on other grounds. Id. at 250

(Scalia, J., concurring and dissenting).

Faced with the fractured decision in FW/PBS, our sibling courts of appeals

have struggled to determine which of Freedman’s requirements apply to licensing

schemes. Joined by several other circuits, we have concluded that the first two

Freedman requirements—maintenance of the status quo and expeditious judicial

review—are applicable to the licensing context. See Essence, 285 F.3d at 1290;

see also, e.g., Baby Tam & Co. v. City of Las Vegas, 154 F.3d 1097, 1100–01

(9th Cir. 1998); 11126 Baltimore Boulevard, Inc. v. Prince George’s County, 58

F.3d 988, 996 & n.12 (4th Cir. 1995); TK’s Video, Inc. v. Denton County, 24

F.3d 705, 707–08 (5th Cir. 1994). With respect to Freedman’s third

requirement—that the censor must bear the burden of going to court and of

proof—our circuit has not yet decided whether it is applicable to adult-business

licensing schemes. See Essence, 285 F.3d at 1290 n.17. Other circuits, however,

have held that the third requirement of Freedman does not apply to licensing
9

 Littleton’s original ordinance required all principal owners, managers and

employees to be photographed and fingerprinted. Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 27

(1993). In 2001, the City eliminated the requirement with respect to employees,

but specified that managers, general partners and (in the case of a corporation) the

(continued...)

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schemes that do not directly regulate content. See MacDonald v. City of Chicago,

243 F.3d 1021, 1035–36 (7th Cir. 2001); Ward v. County of Orange, 217 F.3d

1350, 1355 (11th Cir. 2000); Steakhouse, Inc. v. City of Raleigh, 166 F.3d 634,

640–41 (4th Cir. 1999). Because ZJ does not argue that the Littleton ordinance

fails to satisfy the third Freedman requirement, we limit our analysis here to the

two procedural safeguards clearly adopted in FW/PBS.

B

Our first inquiry is whether Littleton’s ordinance satisfies the requirement

that “any restraint prior to judicial review can be imposed only for a specified

brief period during which the status quo must be maintained.” FW/PBS, 493 U.S.

at 227. Although the ordinance specifies that a license application must be

approved within thirty days, Littleton, Colo., City Code § 3-14-8, ZJ stresses that,

before an application is accepted, (1) applicants are required to obtain a written

statement from the City’s Zoning Official stating that the proposed location is in

compliance with the location requirements of the ordinance, (2) specified persons

named on the application must be fingerprinted and photographed by the Police

Department,9

 and (3) the applicant must obtain a sales-tax license. ZJ argues that
9

(...continued)

president of the corporation must be photographed and fingerprinted. Littleton,

Colo., Ordinance 13 (2001). No time limit for the fingerprinting and photography

was specified either in the original ordinance or in the amended ordinance.

- 23 -

these provisions present the possibility of indefinite postponement of a license. 

Id.

Justice O’Connor’s opinion in FW/PBS, which announced the judgment of

the Court, held that the Dallas ordinance in question allowed for indefinite

postponement of a license because the premises had to be approved in advance by

“the health department, fire department and the building official.” 493 U.S. at

227. Although the prerequisites required by Littleton’s ordinance are arguably

less onerous than those in FW/PBS, Littleton’s ordinance similarly does not

specify a time limit within which the City must complete them. We therefore

consider whether they render Littleton’s ordinance unconstitutional for failure to

satisfy the first requirement of Freedman and FW/PBS.

Every retail business in Colorado must obtain a sales-tax license. Colo.

Rev. Stat. § 39-26-103. Because this requirement is not specific to adult

businesses, it is irrelevant to the constitutionality of the licensing ordinance at

issue in the present case. The City does not argue, however, that the other two

requirements are similarly applicable to all businesses, and we therefore presume

that they are specific to adult businesses. Littleton’s ordinance provides no
- 24 -

assurance that the City will promptly act on a pre-application request for a

certification of zoning compliance or for fingerprinting or photography.

During oral argument of the present case, counsel for the City offered to

make a “judicial admission” on behalf of the City that “if the Zoning Official

doesn’t act, the application can be complete without his statement.” Littleton’s

ordinance, however, explicitly states that the “City Clerk shall not accept any

application that is not complete in every detail.” Littleton, Colo., City Code

§ 3-14-5. Such details presumably include the provision of the Zoning Official’s

letter as well as the requirements of photography and fingerprinting by the Police

Department. By interpreting the ordinance as allowing for the submission of an

incomplete application in the event of delay by the Zoning Official, appellee’s

counsel is stating a legal conclusion, and courts are reluctant to treat opinions and

legal conclusions as judicial admissions. See MacDonald v. General Motors

Corp., 110 F.3d 337, 341 (6th Cir. 1997); Glick v. White Motor Co., 458 F.2d

1287, 1291 (3d Cir. 1972); New Amsterdam Cas. Co. v. Waller, 323 F.2d 20, 24

(4th Cir. 1963). “A matter as important as the constitutionality of a state statute

should not be decided on the basis of an advocate’s concession during oral

argument.” Virginia v. Am. Booksellers Ass’n, 484 U.S. 383, 398 (1988)

(Stevens, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
- 25 -

Moreover, Freedman requires that either a “statute or authoritative judicial

construction” must specify the time limit within which the license must be issued

or denied, 80 U.S. at 58–59, and there is nothing in Justice O’Connor’s opinion

suggesting that this requirement was changed in FW/PBS. Federal courts “lack

jurisdiction authoritatively to construe state legislation.” United States v. ThirtySeven (37) Photographs, 402 U.S. 363, 369 (1971). Only if a state law is “readily

susceptible” of an interpretation may the federal courts subject it to a narrowing

construction, and “we will not rewrite a state law to conform it to constitutional

requirements.” Am. Booksellers Ass’n, 484 U.S. at 397 (majority opinion). 

Because Littleton’s ordinance is not “readily susceptible” to the interpretation

offered by the City—to the contrary, it is readily susceptible to the opposite

interpretation—much as we are tempted, we cannot decide this case on the basis

of Littleton counsel’s oral argument offer.

Although the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a similar requirement that a

zoning permit must accompany the application for a sexually-oriented-business

license in City of Colo. Springs v. 2354, Inc., 896 P.2d 272, 281–82 (Colo. 1995),

a separate Zoning Ordinance in that case required that a zoning administrator

“approve or deny a zoning permit application within ten working days of the

submittal.” Id. at 282. Counsel for the City implicitly conceded at oral argument

that no such time limit is present in this case. Because no time limit is specified
10 As noted above, this defect in Littleton’s ordinance cannot be cured by

“judicial admission,” as the City’s counsel suggests. Appropriate procedures

under Colorado law for the amendment of a city ordinance must be followed. It is

not our role to sit as a party to negotiations concerning the implementation of the

City’s code. Littleton’s ordinance can easily be amended to state that an

application may be submitted without zoning approval, fingerprinting, or

photography if a good faith request is not acted on by the Zoning Official or the

Police Department within a specified brief time period.

- 26 -

in the ordinance or by authoritative judicial construction, we hold that the subject

ordinance’s requirement that a letter from the Zoning Official accompany the

application, along with the fingerprinting and photography requirements, are

unconstitutional for failure to specify a time limit within which the City must

act.10 See FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 227. To the extent that the City’s motion for

summary judgment on this point was granted and ZJ’s motion for partial summary

judgment was denied, the order of the district court is reversed.

C

Having held that Littleton’s ordinance fails to meet the first test of

FW/PBS, we must decide whether the unconstitutional provisions are severable. 

Under Colorado law, a section of a legislative enactment is severable if the

remaining portion of the statute is autonomous and the legislature’s will in

passing the entire statute is not thwarted by the excision. City of Lakewood v.

Colfax Unlimited Ass’n, 634 P.2d 52, 70 (Colo. 1981) (en banc). Utilization of a

severability clause creates a presumption that the legislature would have been
- 27 -

satisfied with the remaining portions of the enactment. Id. A provision will not

be held severable, however, if the remaining enactment is “so incomplete or

riddled with omissions” that it lacks coherence. Id.

At issue in the present case is an ordinance that contains a severability

clause, both in its original version and in the amended version. Littleton, Colo.,

Ordinance 13, § 8 (2001); Littleton, Colo., Ordinance 27, § 8 (1993). More

importantly, other requirements of the ordinance do not depend upon the

constitutionally suspect pre-application requirements for coherence or

consistency, and the purpose of the ordinance is not thwarted by their excision. 

As a result, we conclude that the pre-application licensing provisions of the

ordinance are severable.

D

Because other provisions of Littleton’s ordinance, if constitutional, may be

enforced without the pre-application requirements, we must decide whether the

remainder of the ordinance is constitutional. Thus we consider the “prompt

judicial review” requirement adopted by the Supreme Court in FW/PBS, 493 U.S.

at 228. ZJ argues that “prompt judicial review” requires the City to provide a

“prompt decision” from the courts as to whether a license should have been

granted or denied. (Appellant’s Br. at 23.) According to the City, however,

“prompt judicial review” means only that there must be “‘the possibility’ or ‘an
- 28 -

avenue’ for prompt judicial review,” and there need not be a “judicial

determination” within a short period of time. (Appellee’s Am. Resp. Br. at 47.)

The circuits are divided over this question. Some have held that “prompt

judicial review,” at least with regard to licensing decisions, requires only that the

government provide prompt access to the courts. See, e.g., Boss Capital, Inc. v.

City of Casselberry, 187 F.3d 1251, 1256–57 (11th Cir. 1999) (concluding that

“access to prompt judicial review is sufficient for licensing decisions”); TK’s

Video v. Denton County, 24 F.3d 705, 709 (5th Cir. 1994) (same); see also Graff

v. City of Chicago, 9 F.3d 1309, 1324–25 (7th Cir. 1993) (en banc) (opinion of

Manion, J.) (noting the availability of the common-law writ of certiorari and

finding this procedure sufficient under FW/PBS); Jews for Jesus v. Mass. Bay

Trans. Auth., 984 F.2d 1319, 1327 (1st. Cir. 1993) (implying that access is

sufficient). Others have concluded that “prompt judicial review” requires a

prompt judicial resolution of license denials. See Nightclubs, Inc. v. City of

Paducah, 202 F.3d 884, 892–93 (6th Cir. 2000); Baby Tam & Co. v. City of Las

Vegas, 154 F.3d 1097, 1101–02 (9th Cir. 1998); 11126 Baltimore Boulevard, Inc.

v. Prince George’s County, 58 F.3d 988, 1000–01 (4th Cir. 1995). 

Access to prompt judicial review was selected as the appropriate standard

by the Eleventh Circuit in Boss Capital, 187 F.3d at 1255–57. That case

enunciates two principal bases in support of its holding that mere access is
- 29 -

sufficient in adult-business licensing cases. First, Boss Capital holds that Justice

O’Connor modified the second Freedman requirement relating to judicial review

in the adult-business licensing context. Id. at 1255–56. Second, Boss Capital

reasons that this interpretation of FW/PBS is appropriate given the difference

between censorship cases and licensing cases. Id. at 1256–57.

Focusing on Justice O’Connor’s language, the Eleventh Circuit points out

that Justice O’Connor uses different terminology than Justice Brennan in

describing Freedman’s second requirement. Id. at 1255 (citing FW/PBS, 493 U.S.

at 228–29). Justice O’Connor’s opinion holds that there must be “the possibility

of prompt judicial review” in the event a license is denied, FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at

228 (opinion of O’Connor, J.) (emphasis added), and states that the Dallas

ordinance failed to provide an “avenue for prompt judicial review,” id. at 229

(emphasis added). Later, the requirement is characterized by Justice O’Connor as

“the availability of prompt judicial review.” Id. at 230 (emphasis added). In

contrast, Justice Brennan’s concurrence states that a “prompt judicial

determination must be available.” Id. at 239 (Brennan, J., concurring) (emphasis

added).

Justice O’Connor’s language could arguably mean that the FW/PBS Court

modified the second Freedman requirement in the context of licensing cases. See

Boss Capital, 187 F.3d at 1255–56 (relying partially on the difference of language
11 If the O’Connor opinion did modify Freedman’s “prompt judicial

review” requirement for the licensing context, then it arguably struck down the

ordinance at issue in FW/PBS on a narrower ground (failure to provide prompt

access to judicial review) than the Brennan concurrence would have (failure to

provide the prompt judicial determination required by Freedman). If that is the

case, then the O’Connor restatement of the “prompt judicial review” requirement

might well state the law, at least in the context of adult business licensing. See

Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 193 (1977) (“When a fragmented Court

decides a case and no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of

five Justices, the holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by

those Members who concurred in the judgments on the narrowest grounds.”

(quotation omitted)). Whether this would constitute the narrowest ground for

decision is debatable, however. See 11126 Baltimore Boulevard, 58 F.3d at 999

& n.15 (arguing that, if Justice O’Connor modified the Freedman requirement,

this was not the narrowest ground for decision). Because we conclude that Justice

O’Connor did not modify the second Freedman requirement in the licensing

context, we need not decide which ground for decision in FW/PBS was the

narrowest.

- 30 -

to distinguish Freedman from FW/PBS).11 It is by no means clear, however, that

Justice O’Connor intended to change the meaning of the “prompt judicial review”

requirement. First, when Justice O’Connor refers to “prompt judicial review,”

she cites to Freedman, which unequivocally stated that the procedure must “assure

a prompt final judicial determination.” 380 U.S. at 59; see also 11126 Baltimore

Boulevard, 58 F.3d at 999 (discussing this point). Other decisions following

Freedman have used the phrase “prompt judicial review” to indicate a prompt

judicial determination, albeit in a censorship context. See 11126 Baltimore

Boulevard, 58 F.3d at 1000 (listing several Supreme Court cases). Moreover,

elsewhere in her opinion in FW/PBS, Justice O’Connor states that the “first two
12 Baby Tam draws an analogy to baseball. Judicial review without a

decision “would be like throwing a pitch and not getting a call. As legendary

major league umpire Bill Klem once said to an inquisitive catcher: ‘It ain’t

nothin’ till I call it.’ This is also true of judicial review. Until the judicial officer

makes the call, it ain’t nothin’.’” 154 F.3d at 1102.

- 31 -

safeguards” provided for by Freedman are “essential.” FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 228. 

Although Justice O’Connor inevitably qualifies the prompt judicial review

requirement by referring to the “possibility,” “availability,” or “avenue” of such

review, such qualification most likely amounts to an acknowledgment that it is up

to the plaintiff to decide whether or not to seek judicial review. This language

does not necessarily indicate any intent to weaken the second Freedman

requirement.

Parties always have access to the courts. See FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 248

(White, J., dissenting) (“[N]o one suggests that licensing decisions are not subject

to immediate appeal to the courts.”); Baby Tam, 154 F.3d at 1101 (“[A] person

always has a judicial forum when his speech is allegedly infringed.” (quoting

Graff, 9 F.3d at 1324)). Judicial review is available regardless of whether an

applicable state court procedure is expressly mentioned in the ordinance. In order

to have “prompt judicial review,” however, a party necessarily must be able to

obtain a decision, for “without a decision, the most exhaustive review is

worthless.”12 Baby Tam, 154 F.3d at 1101–02. Thus, Justice O’Connor’s

“avenue for prompt judicial review” requirement in a First Amendment context
13 Littleton’s ordinance, for example, lists eight specific reasons to deny a

license—although the ordinance does not explicitly state that this list is

exclusive—and these reasons do not involve discretion on the part of the licensing

official. Littleton, Colo., City Code § 3-14-8. 

- 32 -

makes far more sense if it is understood to mean a prompt final judicial

determination.

The Eleventh Circuit further points out in Boss Capital that Freedman and

the line of cases following it can be distinguished from adult-business licensing

cases on the grounds that they involved censorship rather than licensing. Justice

O’Connor held in FW/PBS that licensing schemes do not involve “the grave

‘dangers of a censorship system,’” and therefore “the full procedural protections

set forth in Freedman are not required.” 493 U.S. at 228 (citation omitted). As

the Eleventh Circuit notes, adult-business licensing schemes primarily involve

“mundane and ministerial factors,” such as the general qualifications of each

applicant.13 Boss Capital, 187 F.3d at 1256. In contrast, censorship cases involve

a highly subjective judgment about the nature of the suspect material.

In addition, the Eleventh Circuit notes, “unlike movie distributors who

might show a given film in hundreds of theaters around the country,” applicants

for adult-business licenses arguably have a greater incentive “to stick it out and

see litigation through to its end.” Id. at 1256. Freedman’s rationale therefore

arguably makes less sense in the licensing context, and Boss Capital concludes
14 Analyzing the constitutionality of a permit requirement for a public

forum, the Supreme Court has recently held that an ordinance that gives no

discretion to the licensing official does not threaten to stifle free expression. See

Thomas v. Chi. Park Dist., 122 S. Ct. 775, 780–81 (2002). However, Thomas

distinguishes FW/PBS on the grounds that “it involved a licensing scheme that

target[ed] businesses purveying sexually explicit speech,” id. at 780 n.2

(quotation omitted), and the Court did not overrule its earlier decision that the

first two Freedman requirements must be applied in adult-business licensing

cases.

-33-

that the need for a prompt judicial decision is therefore “less compelling.”14 See

Boss Capital, 187 F.3d at 1256–57 (arguing that access to prompt judicial review

is sufficient for licensing cases). Because the ordinance in dispute contained an

explicit judicial review provision, the Eleventh Circuit held it constitutional. Id.

at 1255, 1257.

Boss Capital draws a rational distinction between licensing cases and

censorship cases. The purpose of Justice O’Connor’s language distinguishing

between these two categories, however, is most logically understood as an attempt

at explaining why Freedman’s third safeguard—that the burden of going to court

and the burden of proof must be on the censor—is not appropriate to the licensing

context. See FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 229–30 (concluding that the third Freedman

requirement does not apply to licensing cases). If Justice O’Connor had intended

to adopt a different judicial review requirement for licensing cases, she could

have done so explicitly, just as she explicitly rejected the burden-shifting

requirement.
-34-

Other circuits have held that the judicial review requirement of Freedman

was not altered by FW/PBS. As the Sixth Circuit notes, Justice O’Connor “gave

no indication that she was modifying the second requirement of prompt judicial

review” in the licensing context. Nightclubs, 202 F.3d at 893. According to the

Ninth Circuit, the FW/PBS plurality “took issue only with Freedman’s

requirement that the censor bear the cost of going to court to obtain judicial

review; otherwise, FW/PBS offered nothing different from Freedman’s concept of

what ‘judicial review’ meant.” Baby Tam, 154 F.3d at 1102; see also 11126

Baltimore Boulevard, 58 F.3d at 999 (reaching the same conclusion). If the Court

adopted the Freedman requirement without modification in FW/PBS, then the

distinction between licensing and censorship is not relevant here. 

Even if the rationale behind Freedman is specific to censorship cases, there

is an equally valid rationale for requiring prompt judicial review in adult-business

licensing cases. Although adult-business licensing ordinances are technically

considered “content-neutral,” ZJ Gifts D-2, L.L.C. v. City of Aurora, 136 F.3d

683, 686–88 (10th Cir. 1998), they are distinguishable from other content-neutral

time, place, and manner restrictions insofar as they target “businesses purveying

sexually explicit speech.” Thomas v. Chi. Park Dist., 122 S. Ct. at 780 n.2 (2002)

(quoting FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 224). A licensing official may have little or no
-35-

discretion in reviewing an application, but he or she may be tempted nonetheless

to overstep the bounds of the ordinance.

Adult businesses are controversial, and the possibility exists that licensing

officials might allow their personal views on the morality of sexually explicit

entertainment to sway a decision on an application. Given the strong feelings that

adult businesses can engender, there must be a prompt judicial determination to

ensure that licensing officials do not exceed their authority under the ordinance in

their zeal to protect the local community. ZJ sells sexually explicit magazines

and videocassette tapes, which are presumptively protected by the First

Amendment, see FW/PBS, 493 U.S. at 224, and the danger that an ordinance like

Littleton’s may be improperly used as a subterfuge for censorship is too great to

overlook the necessity for a prompt judicial determination.

In short, we are not persuaded by those circuits that have concluded that

mere “access” to judicial review is sufficient in licensing cases. Following the

Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits, we hold that, in the event that an adult-business

license is denied, FW/PBS requires a prompt final judicial decision regarding the

validity of the denial. “[A] theoretical possibility of expeditious judicial review

is not constitutionally sufficient.” Nightclubs, 202 F.3d at 892. “While we trust

state courts to exercise due diligence, we cannot be sure that a state judge . . .

toiling under a busy docket, will conduct a hearing and render a decision in a
-36-

prompt manner.” Id. Prompt judicial review, including a prompt final decision,

must be assured in all First Amendment licensing cases in order for the second

requirement of Freedman and FW/PBS to be satisfied. What constitutes a prompt

judicial determination in the adult-business licensing context is to be determined

by reference to the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence following Freedman. See, e.g.,

Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U.S. 546, 561–62 (1975) (holding

that a judicial review process lasting more than five months was not prompt).

Littleton’s ordinance allows a party whose license has been denied to

appeal to the Colorado district court under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure

106(a)(4). This Rule allows an adverse decision regarding the license to be given

expedited review in the trial court’s discretion. 2354 Inc., 896 P.2d at 284 (citing

Colo. R. Civ. P. 106(a)(4)(VIII)). Because this Rule does not assure that license

decisions will be given expedited review, however, it does not save Littleton’s

ordinance. Accordingly, the order of the district court granting summary

judgment for the City is reversed to the extent that it held the judicial review

procedure to be constitutionally sufficient.

V

Finally, ZJ attacks the location restrictions in Littleton’s ordinance as

unconstitutional because they do not provide reasonable alternatives of

communication, as required by City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475
15 In its reply and supplemental briefing, ZJ argued that the location

restrictions in Littleton’s ordinance should be viewed as “content-based”

restrictions on speech subject to strict scrutiny. In particular, ZJ argues that the

recent Supreme Court decision in Thomas, 122 S. Ct. 775 (2002), and Justice

Kennedy’s opinion in City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc., 122 S. Ct.

1728, 1739 (2002) (Kennedy, J., concurring in the judgment), support this claim. 

This court, however, has previously held that a nearly identical ordinance should

be reviewed as a “content-neutral” regulation subject to intermediate scrutiny. 

See ZJ Gifts, 136 F.3d at 686–88. We see nothing in either Thomas or Alameda

Books that requires reconsideration of our conclusion as to the applicable

standard of review.

-37-

U.S. 41 (1986).15 It is the City’s burden to demonstrate that its ordinance meets

this requirement. See ZJ Gifts, 136 F.3d at 688.

Renton considered a local ordinance that restricted the location of adult

businesses. 475 U.S. at 44. Content-neutral zoning ordinances, the Court held,

are permissible so long as “reasonable alternative avenues of communication” are

left open, id. at 53, a question that is answered through an analysis of how much

land is available in which adult businesses may be located under the zoning

system, id. at 53–54. In undertaking that analysis, the courts must examine what

land is actually available, but also must keep in mind that adult businesses must

“fend for themselves in the real estate market, on an equal footing with other

prospective purchasers and lessees.” Id. at 54.

How much land is sufficient to constitute “reasonable alternative avenues

of communication” is a question that the Renton Court left open. In Renton, the

ordinance left “520 acres, or more than five percent of the entire land area of” the
16 ZJ argues that some of these parcels are unavailable because portions of

the parcels are within five-hundred feet of schools, day care centers, and

correctional facilities. However, as the record shows, the majority of these

parcels are outside the distance limits. Under Littleton’s ordinance, the distance

limits are only violated if the exterior wall of the structure in which the adult

business is located is within the minimum distance from the neighboring use. 

Thus, these parcels are available for use by an adult business as long as the

business locates in the portions of the parcels where such uses are permitted.

-38-

city, open for adult businesses, with the land “in all stages of development from

raw land to developed, industrial, warehouse, office, and shopping space that is

criss-crossed by freeways, highways, and roads.” Id. at 53 (quotation omitted). 

The Renton Court determined that the ordinance “easily meets” the requirement of

providing a “reasonable opportunity to open and operate an adult theater within

the city.” Id. at 54.

Under Littleton’s ordinance, there are approximately one-hundred acres of

land that are within industrial zones and outside the minimum distance from

nearby schools, day care centers, and correctional facilities.16 This land

constitutes between 1.2 and 1.3% of the total acreage of the City of Littleton. At

least one other court of appeals has found this proportion of land to be sufficient

under Renton. See Lakeland Lounge of Jackson, Inc. v. City of Jackson, 973 F.2d

1255, 1260 (5th Cir. 1992). 

ZJ argues that portions of this land are unavailable because specific parcels

are (1) currently occupied by large-scale manufacturing uses, see Topanga Press,
17 We add that we do not address a situation where all or nearly all

properties consist of large-scale manufacturing and warehouse uses, such that the

diversity of land uses described in Renton does not exist. In such a situation, the

municipality may be “effectively denying” adult businesses “a reasonable

opportunity to open and operate.” Renton, 475 U.S. at 54.

-39-

Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 989 F.2d 1524, 1531–32 (9th Cir. 1993), or (2)

currently owned by governmental entities, see Centerfold Club, Inc. v. City of St.

Petersburg, 969 F. Supp. 1288, 1305 (M.D. Fla. 1997). 

First, we disagree with the notion that warehouses and other large-scale

manufacturing uses must be excluded per se from any calculation of whether there

is sufficient land for adult business uses. In Renton itself the Supreme Court

noted the diversity of property that was available for adult business use under the

ordinance—“industrial, warehouse, office, and shopping space,” Renton, 475 U.S.

at 53 (emphasis added)—in concluding that there was sufficient land available. 

Similarly, Littleton’s ordinance leaves a diversity of different types of properties

available for use by an adult business, including large-scale manufacturing and

warehouse uses. Under Renton, there is no need to exclude those uses from our

analysis.17 While it may indeed be more difficult and more expensive for an

adult-business owner to acquire and convert these types of properties, there is no

requirement that those businessmen must “be able to obtain sites at bargain

prices.” Id. at 54.
18 In reaching this conclusion, we draw the following inferences in ZJ’s

favor: Littleton’s fire protection center and the abandoned city property are

located in an industrial zone that comprises approximately eight acres near the

intersection of Chenango and Vallejo Streets. We assume that all of those

properties were used by both the fire protection center and the abandoned city

property, and we remove them from our analysis. As for the Arapahoe

Government Center, ZJ relies on the City’s maps in the record as evidence

regarding its location on “South Crestline Avenue.” We can find only an

ambiguous reference for a parcel south of West Crestline Avenue, which appears

to occupy about two acres of the industrial zones. ZJ has provided us with

absolutely no information from which an inference can be drawn regarding the

specific location or acreage of Littleton’s nature area.

-40-

As for inclusion of the government-owned properties, we need not decide

whether that is permissible under the Renton analysis. Even excluding those

parcels that are government-owned according to evidence introduced by ZJ, there

is sufficient property zoned for adult business uses to meet the requirements of

Renton. ZJ submitted evidence identifying only one specific property—the

Littleton City Shops between Belleview Avenue and Prentice Avenue,

constituting twelve acres—as being owned by the government. Other properties

mentioned by ZJ in its brief—a fire training center, a nature area, and the

Arapahoe County Government Center—are not identified by parcel, nor does ZJ

provide any information as to their total acreage. However, even giving ZJ the

benefit of the doubt as to these additional properties, based on the information we

can glean from the record, removing these properties would only reduce the total

available area by approximately ten acres.18 Thus, the total area available
19 Where an adult-business zoning regulation prohibits the location of one

adult business within a minimum distance of another one—as Littleton’s

ordinance does—some courts have required the analysis of the minimum number

of sites to take into account those spacing requirements, dramatically reducing the

potential number of sites. See, e.g., Young v. City of Simi Valley, 216 F.3d 807,

821 n.13 (9th Cir. 2000). ZJ has never argued that we should incorporate the

spacing requirements into our analysis, and given that ZJ is the only adult

business currently operating or seeking to operate in Littleton, such an adjustment

would be inappropriate in the first place. See Diamond, 215 F.3d at 1057–58.

-41-

excluding government properties would be about seventy-eight acres, or just

under one percent of the total area of the City.

Moreover, excluding both the government properties to which ZJ objects as

well as those properties that are implicated by the minimum distance requirements

of the ordinance, the City has listed over twenty sites within the industrial

districts that its real estate expert stated would be available for adult businesses. 

Given the small population of Littleton (forty-thousand people), and the fact that

ZJ is the only adult business that is currently located in Littleton, this is a

sufficient number of available sites. See Diamond v. City of Taft, 215 F.3d 1052,

1058 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding seven available sites sufficient where only one

business sought to locate within the municipality), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1072

(2001);19 see also Boss Capital, 187 F.3d at 1254 (listing factors to be considered

in analyzing whether there are sufficient sites for adult businesses, including

geographical size of the locality, location of sites, number of adult businesses

currently operating or seeking permission to operate, and population). We
20 ZJ urges us to hold that the Colorado Constitution provides broader

protections than the United States Constitution in this context. None of the cases

cited by ZJ in support of this proposition, however, involves a challenge to adultbusiness licensing ordinances. See Bock v. Westminister Mall Co., 819 P.2d 55,

56 (Colo. 1991) (discussing plaintiffs’ right to distribute political leaflets in a

shopping mall); People v. Ford, 773 P.2d 1059, 1061 (Colo. 1989) (addressing the

constitutionality of the Colorado obscenity statute); People v. Seven Thirty-Five

East Colfax, Inc., 697 P.2d 348, 353 (Colo. 1985) (same). In analyzing a local

ordinance regulating nude dancing, the Colorado Supreme Court relied almost

exclusively on federal cases in determining that the ordinance did not violate the

free speech protections of either the federal or state constitutions. See 7250 Corp.

v. Bd. of County Comm’rs, 799 P.2d 917, 924–28 (Colo. 1990) (en banc). We

have found no evidence that in this particular field of free speech jurisprudence

the Colorado courts have interpreted the state constitution to provide greater

protection than the federal Constitution.

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conclude that the ordinance meets the requirements of Renton,

20 and the section of

the district court order dealing with the location requirements of Littleton’s

ordinance is affirmed.

VI

In sum, we conclude that ZJ has standing to challenge the pre-application

and location requirements of the ordinance and the judicial review procedure. ZJ

lacks standing, however, to challenge the ordinance as vague, attack the

ordinance’s license revocation and suspension provisions, or challenge the age

and criminal history restrictions in the ordinance. As to the merits of ZJ’s

challenge, we hold that the judicial review procedure and pre-application

requirements of Littleton’s ordinance are unconstitutional, but that the location

requirements of the ordinance are constitutional.
21 We grant the City’s motions to file additional supplemental appendices.

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The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED

in part.21