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529US1

Unit: $U42

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ERIE v. PAP’S A. M.

Opinion of O’Connor, J.

48. Here, Erie’s ordinance is on its face a content-neutral
restriction on conduct. Even if the city thought that nude
dancing at clubs like Kandyland constituted a particularly
problematic instance of public nudity, the regulation is still
properly evaluated as a content-neutral restriction because
the interest in combating the secondary effects associated
with those clubs is unrelated to the suppression of the erotic
message conveyed by nude dancing.

We conclude that Erie’s asserted interest in combating the
negative secondary effects associated with adult entertain-
ment establishments like Kandyland is unrelated to the sup-
pression of the erotic message conveyed by nude dancing.
The ordinance prohibiting public nudity is therefore valid if
it satisﬁes the four-factor test from O’Brien for evaluating
restrictions on symbolic speech.

IV

Applying that standard here, we conclude that Erie’s ordi-
nance is justiﬁed under O’Brien. The ﬁrst factor of the
O’Brien test is whether the government regulation is within
the constitutional power of the government to enact. Here,
Erie’s efforts to protect public health and safety are clearly
within the city’s police powers. The second factor is
whether the regulation furthers an important or substantial
government interest. The asserted interests of regulating
conduct through a public nudity ban and of combating the
harmful secondary effects associated with nude dancing are
undeniably important. And in terms of demonstrating that
such secondary effects pose a threat, the city need not “con-
duct new studies or produce evidence independent of that
already generated by other cities” to demonstrate the prob-
lem of secondary effects, “so long as whatever evidence the
city relies upon is reasonably believed to be relevant to the
problem that the city addresses.” Renton v. Playtime The-
atres, Inc., supra, at 51–52. Because the nude dancing at
Kandyland is of the same character as the adult entertain-