Opinion ID: 774351
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: First Amendment Challenges

Text: 88 As discussed earlier, a nude dancing regulation must meet the constitutional requirements of the O'Brien test. Pap's A.M., 529 U.S. at 289. We need not determine whether the Ordinance satisfies the first, third or fourth prongs of the O'Brien test, for even if it did, there is a material fact in dispute as to the second step in the analysis: whether the Ordinance furthers an important or substantial government interest. 89 Lakewood argues that the Ordinance furthers several significant government interests -protecting public health and safety and curtailing public sexual conduct and sexual crimes. These interests are indeed significant. Goehring v. Brophy, 94 F.3d 1294, 1300 (9th Cir. 1996); BSA, Inc. v. King County, 804 F.2d 1104, 1111 (9th Cir. 1986). The crucial question on which our decision turns, however, is whether these regulations further those significant interests. 90 We generally defer to a legislature's judgment on whether regulations advance a government interest. Alameda Books, 222 F.3d at 725. Additionally, cities do not necessarily have to conduct their own independent analyses regarding the effects of nude dancing,  `so long as whatever evidence the city relies upon is reasonably believed to be relevant to the problem that the city addresses.'  Pap's A.M., 120 S.Ct. at 1395 (quoting Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. , 475 U.S. 41, 51-52 (1986)). 91 In Alameda Books, this court struck down the City of Los Angeles' regulations concerning combined adult bookstores and video arcades. The Court concluded that the study the city relied upon to justify its regulations contained no findings regarding the secondary effects of combined bookstore/ arcades. Alameda Books, 222 F.3d at 725. Accordingly, we held it was not reasonable for the city to infer that, in the absence of regulations, a bookstore/arcade combination would have harmful secondary effects. Id. 92 Because the evidence the Lakewood City Council relied upon here may be null and void, there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether these regulations further a significant government interest. According to Lakewood's representative, the only evidence the City Council considered in passing the Ordinance was the Task Force's report and the adult entertainment owners' response to that report. The Task Force's report contains the background, findings and conclusions from the Task Force's analyses of the adult entertainment industry in Lakewood. Because the report and its foundation may be partly or entirely null and void under the OPMA, there may have been no valid evidentiary foundation to support the Ordinance's passage. If so, it is not reasonable to believe the Ordinance is relevant to the problems the city says it is addressing, and Lakewood may not have met its burden to justify its restrictions upon expression. Id. Although Lakewood might be able to rely upon other jurisdictions' experiences and studies to demonstrate that secondary effects pose a threat, see Pap's A.M., 529 U.S. at 296-97, the record indicates the City Council did not do this. Rather it relied solely upon the Task Force's report and comments to that report. Accordingly, we hold there is a genuine issue of material fact in dispute as to whether the Ordinance furthers a significant government interest. We therefore reverse the summary judgment in favor of Lakewood as to the constitutionality of the Ordinance.