Court Opinion

ID: 9594834
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:33:20.673874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:24.996210
License: Public Domain

Sears-Collins, Justice,
dissenting.
Our country places the highest priority on the right of its citizens to speak, to write and to otherwise express themselves as they see fit, even though some may find some of the expression objectionable. Compelling evidence of a prevailing interest must be shown in order to surmount this high priority.
In this case, the majority appears to take the existence of the undesirable secondary effects purportedly sought to be prevented by the Richmond County ordinance as a given when, in fact, the evidence of undesirable secondary effects stemming from the combination of nude dancing and alcohol is no more than was present in Gravely v. Bacon, 263 Ga. 203 (429 SE2d 663) (1993), a case to which I also dissented. I must, therefore, dissent in this case because I am loathe to diminish the standard for reviewing restrictions on First Amendment guarantees based on evidence with very little, if any, weight or substance.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Justice Hunt joins in this dissent.