Opinion ID: 499806
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Escort Services' Facial Challenge

Text: 42 We conclude that the Constitution may afford some protection to dating and other social groups because of their value as intimate and expressive associations. The escort services, however, have little claim on the protections afforded intimate associations because the relationship between an escort and client possesses almost none of the constitutional aspects of intimate associations. They also lack a substantial claim to the protections given expressive associations because the escort services' activities and purposes are primarily commercial rather than communicative. As the county's regulation does not reach a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct, the escort services' facial challenge alleging an impermissible burden on their rights cannot succeed.
43 The requirement of obtaining a license does not operate as a prior restraint on expression. As the activities of the escort services and their employees do not implicate substantial first amendment rights, the county may exercise some discretion in granting licenses. If the county revokes or denies licenses for arbitrary or constitutionally suspect reasons, the aggrieved party may challenge the application of the regulation in that specific context. 7 We note that the county granted these plaintiffs licenses and therefore they may lack standing to challenge the licensing requirements as it applies to them. In any event, the fact that they have licenses militates against facial invalidation of the regulation. The regulation's time, place, and manner restrictions on the operation of escort services are valid. 8 44 The plaintiffs' attack for overbreadth also fails. The regulation's bounds are sufficiently clear that there is no substantial instrusion on noncommercial social associations. Flipside, 455 U.S. at 494-96, 102 S.Ct. at 1191-92; Broadrick, 413 U.S. at 615, 93 S.Ct. at 2917. 9 To the extent that the escort services' challenge for overbreadth asserts the rights of other business associations involved in significant amounts of expressive activities, it fails because such a challenge cannot be made in a commercial context. See Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 380-81, 97 S.Ct. 2691, 2707-08, 53 L.Ed.2d 810 (1977). The justification for this limitation on attacks for overbreadth is not based on the assumption that all expression emanating from commercial associations is commercial speech: such an assumption is incorrect. See Virginia Pharmacy, 425 U.S. at 761-62, 96 S.Ct. at 1825-26. Instead, it is justified because commercial entities are less likely to require an outsider to champion their first amendment rights. Bates, 433 U.S. at 380-81, 97 S.Ct. at 2707-08; Virginia Pharmacy, 425 U.S. at 771-72 & n. 24, 96 S.Ct. at 1830-31 & n. 24. Accordingly, the escort services may not assert the rights of other commercial associations. 10
45 Our conclusion that the escort services' activities are not protected by the first amendment is not fatal to all claims that the county's regulation is void for vagueness. See Flipside, 455 U.S. at 495 n. 7, 102 S.Ct. at 1191 n. 7. Regardless of whether a statute impinges on other constitutional rights, due process requires it to give adequate notice of what conduct is prohibited and sufficient guidelines to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. See Grayned, 408 U.S. at 108-09, 92 S.Ct. at 2298-99. The absence of a significant first amendment interest is, however, fatal to a facial challenge of a business regulation for vagueness unless the regulation is vague in all possible applications. Kolender, 461 U.S. at 358 n. 8, 103 S.Ct. at 1859 n. 8; Flipside, 455 U.S. at 497, 102 S.Ct. at 1193. A statute that imposes criminal penalties must be more precise than one that regulates business behavior. Kolender, 461 U.S. at 358 n. 8, 103 S.Ct. at 1859 n. 8. The regulation's only criminal penalty is for operation of an escort service without a license. Nev.Rev.Stat. Sec. 244.345(7) (1985); see Republic Entertainment, 99 Nev. at 817, 672 P.2d at 638. All the plaintiffs applied for and received licenses: they cannot not now claim that the regulation is so vague that it provides inadequate notice to them of their need for licenses. 46 The regulation prohibits escort services from operating in a sexually oriented manner or advertising in a manner that suggests to a reasonable, prudent person that sexual stimulation or sexual gratification will be provided. CCC Secs. 8.32.080(I), 8.32.120, 8.32.140. The escort services argue that the terms sexually oriented, sexual stimulation, and sexual gratification are so vague that the regulation invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. These terms are narrowly defined in the regulation. See supra notes 1-2. The only possible exception is the inclusion of the phrase to excite or arouse the prurient interest in the definition of sexual stimulation. The Supreme Court made it clear in Spokane Arcades, 472 U.S. at 504-06, 105 S.Ct. at 2802-03, that use of such terms as lust or prurient does not justify facial invalidation of an entire statute: the terms can be defined so as to pass constitutional muster and courts should assume they will be so defined absent clear evidence to the contrary. Id. at 504-07 & n. 13, 105 S.Ct. at 2802-04 & n. 13; see Polykoff v. Collins, 816 F.2d 1326, 1334-37 (9th Cir.1987).