Court Opinion

ID: 9700299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:19:01.475771+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:06.872222
License: Public Domain

*286STEIN, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Court sustains, against a First Amendment challenge, the constitutionality of a statute that limits sexually oriented businesses throughout the State to two exterior signs, one giving notice that the premises are off limits to minors, and the other— an identification sign — restricted in size to forty square feet. The State contends that the statute is sustainable because its purpose is content-neutral. That is, the statute does not seek to regulate the constitutionally protected speech engaged in by sexually oriented businesses, but rather seeks to regulate the secondary effects of those businesses. The secondary effects that the State claims to be fostered by the sign regulation are traffic safety and the welfare of minors.
I do not necessarily disagree with the Court’s conclusion that the challenged statute regulates only commercial speech and that its constitutionality should be determined on the basis of an intermediate standard of scrutiny. Ante at 265-69, 716 A.2d at 1142-44. Nor do I disagree with the Court’s determination that “[t]he burden is on the State to establish the existence of the substantial governmental interest it sought to advance through the signage regulation.” Ante at 269, 716 A.2d at 1144.
I part company with the Court when it elects to wink at the complete lack of legislative findings supporting the alleged governmental interest and sustains the statute without imposing on the State the burden of proving to the trial court that the alleged governmental interests are not pretextual. If those interests are pretextual, the Court would agree that the statute cannot be sustained. But the record evidence that the Court credits as supporting the alleged governmental interests is embarrassingly weak, and the State inexplicably did not supplement that evidence in the proceeding before the trial court. The Court ought not so readily compromise its responsibility to the interests protected by the First Amendment.
*287I
The Court appropriately relies on Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York, 447 U.S. 557, 566, 100 S.Ct. 2843, 2346-47, 65 L. Ed.2d 341, 351 (1980), as a source of the standards for testing the validity of restrictions on commercial speech against First Amendment protections:
In commercial speech eases, then, a four-part analysis has developed. At the outset, we must determine whether the expression is protected by the First Amendment. For commercial speech to come within that provision, it at least must concern lawful activity and not be misleading. Next, we ask whether the asserted governmental interest is substantial. If both inquiries yield positive answers, we must determine whether the regulation directly advances the governmental interest asserted, and whether it is not more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest.
The United States Supreme Court continues to insist on adherence to the Central Hudson standard in assessing the constitutionality of commercial speech regulations. In Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761, 113 S.Ct. 1792, 123 L. Ed.2d 543 (1993), the Court invalidated under the First and Fourteenth Amendments Florida’s ban on personal solicitation of prospective clients by certified public accountants. The Court observed:
It is well established that “[t]he party seeking to uphold a restriction on commercial speech carries the burden of justifying it.” Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U.S. 60, 71 n. 20, 103 S.Ct 2875, 2883 n. 20, 77 L. Ed.2d 469, 480 n. 20 (1983). This burden is not satisfied by mere speculation or conjecture; rather, a governmental body seeking to sustain a restriction on commercial speech must demonstrate that the harms it recites are real and that its restriction will in fact alleviate them to a material degree. Without this requirement, a State could with ease restrict commercial speech in the service of other objectives that could not themselves justify a burden on commercial expression.
“Broad prophylactic rules in the area of free expression are suspect. Precision of regulation must be the touchstone in an area so closely touching our most precious freedoms.” NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 438, 83 S.Ct. 328, 340, 9 L. Ed.2d 405, 421 (1963) (citations omitted). Even under the First Amendment’s somewhat more forgiving standards for restrictions on commercial speech, a State may not curb protected expression without advancing a substantial governmental interest. Here, the ends sought by the State are not advanced by the speech restriction, and legitimate commercial speech is suppressed. For this reason, the Board’s rule infringes upon Fane’s right to speak, as guaranteed by the Constitution.
*288[id at 770-71, 777, 113 S.Ct. at 1800, 1803-04,123 L. Ed.2d at 555, 559 (citations omitted).]
The Court relies heavily on City of Renton v. Playtime The-atres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41, 106 S.Ct. 925, 89 L. Ed.2d 29 (1986), which upheld the constitutionality of a city zoning ordinance that prohibited adult motion picture theatres from locating within 1000 feet of any residential zone, single- or multiple-family dwelling, church, park or school. The Court in Renton adhered to the Central Hudson mandate that the proponents of a legislative enactment regulating commercial speech must demonstrate that the regulation “is designed to serve a substantial government interest----” Id. at 50, 106 S.Ct. at 930, 89 L. Ed.2d at 39. However, the Court rejected the Court of Appeals’s holding that the ordinance was conclusory and speculative because the City had not conducted its own studies that reflected the need for the restriction. Id. at 50, 106 S.Ct. at 930, 89 L. Ed.2d at 39-40. The Court observed that the record reflected the City Council’s reliance on studies produced by the City of Seattle focusing on the secondary effects of adult movie theaters, and also its reliance on the opinion of the Supreme Court of Washington in upholding the Seattle ordinance. Id. at 51-52, 106 S.Ct. at 931, 89 L. Ed.2d at 40. The Court concluded:
We hold that Renton was entitled to rely on the experiences of Seattle and other cities, and in particular on the “detailed findings” summarized in the Washington Supreme Court’s Northend Cinema opinion, in enacting its adult theater zoning ordinance. The First Amendment does not require a city, before enacting such an ordinance, to conduct new studies or produce evidence independent of that already generated by other cities, so long as whatever evidence the city relies upon is reasonably believed to be relevant to the problem that the city addresses. That was the case here.
[Aid]
This Court acknowledges that
Unlike the city in Renton, however, when enacting N.J.S.A. 2C:34-7c, the Legislature did not place into the record the studies of this or any other jurisdiction; nor is there evidence that lawmakers relied on such studies. Similarly, the record does not reflect that the Legislature relied on decisional law from this or any other jurisdiction that discusses the detrimental secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses.
[Ante at 270, 716 A.2d at 1144-45.]
*289Despite the obvious omission in the legislative record, the Court strains to find some semblance of documentation in the legislative record that identifies the governmental interests at stake and demonstrates that the sign restrictions significantly advance those interests.
Before examining the bits and pieces of the legislative record the Court relies on to sustain this statute, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’s recent analysis of the governmental burden in sustaining commercial speech restrictions is highly pertinent and provides a frame of reference for evaluating the soundness of the Court’s analysis. In Phillips v. Borough of Keyport, 107 F.3d 164 (1997), the Third Circuit reversed as premature a District Court judgment sustaining the constitutionality of a local ordinance restricting adult entertainment uses to industrial districts and prohibiting them within 300 feet of residential zones, schools, churches, public playgrounds, swimming pools, parks and libraries, id. at 170-71, remanding the matter to the District Court for an evidentiary hearing in which the Borough would be required to identify the secondary governmental interests that justify the ordinance and to prove that the ordinance is reasonably tailored to promote those interests. Id. at 173. The court of appeals rejected the plaintiffs’ contention that the ordinance could not be sustained because the Borough did not have before it at the time of adoption evidence that would sustain the constitutionality of the ordinance. The court stated:
There is a significant difference between the requirement that there be a factual basis for a legislative judgment presented in court when that judgment is challenged and a requirement that such a factual basis have been submitted to the legislative body prior to the enactment of the legislative measure. We have always required the former; we have never required the latter. Whatever level of scrutiny we have applied in a given case, we have always found it acceptable for individual legislators to base their judgments on their own study of the subject matter of the legislation, their communications with constituents, and their own life experience and common sense so long as they come forward with the required showing in the courtroom once a challenge is raised. In reliance on this approach, most municipal and county councils throughout the land and some state legislatures do not hold hearings and compile legislative records before acting on proposed legislative measures. We perceive no justification in policy or doctrine for abandoning our traditional approach. Moreover, we believe that insistence on the *290creation of a legislative record is an unwarranted intrusion into the internal affairs of the legislative branch of governments.
If a legislative body can produce in court whatever justification is required of it under the applicable constitutional doctrine, we perceive little to be gained by incurring the expense, effort, and delay involved in requiring it to reenact the legislative measure after parading its evidence through its legislative chamber. A record like that presented to the town council in Renton can be easily and quickly assembled, and a requirement that this be done is unlikely to deter any municipal body bent on regulating or curbing speech. While we agree with appellants that the creation of a legislative record can have probative value on what the lawmakers had in mind when they acted, we do not understand why its absence should be controlling when the court is otherwise satisfied that the legislative measure has a content-neutral target.
[Id. at 178.]
Judge Rosenn dissented from that aspect of the court’s opinion, expressing the view that under Renton consideration of pre-enactment evidence is a prerequisite to the constitutionality of a legislative restriction on commercial speech:
We are thus bound by both Supreme Court precedent and the precedent of our own circuit to require at least some evidence at the time of adoption before we sustain a restrictive ordinance of the type currently before us. The majority is of the view that the legislative body need have no factual basis before it at the time of the enactment of the ordinance, and that such a requirement is only necessary when the legislative judgment is challenged in court. If we look to cases decided in our sister circuits, we also see that no other circuit in this country has espoused the extreme, and I believe incorrect, position taken by the majority. Cases similar to the one at bar have been decided in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. Every one of these circuits has interpreted Renton to require pre-enactment evidence, and every one of these circuits has insisted upon such evidence before affirming the constitutionality of a restrictive zoning ordinance.
At this juncture, the effects of adult entertainment establishments are so open and notorious that requiring legislative bodies to consult studies or other evidence confirming their deleterious impact may seem unnecessarily burdensome — just another hoop to jump through in the process of lawmaking. However, this requirement is not without purpose. It limits the risk that legislatures will impose restrictions on speech activities on the basis of supposed secondary effects that on closer scrutiny lack any evidentiary support, and it lends support to the representation that the content-neutral interest articulated by the lawmaking body was not merely pretextual and illicitly designed to suppress speech expression, even that constitutionally protected. I am as sympathetic as the majority to Keyport’s well-intentioned purpose of preserving its community life, but the First Amendment cases show that it is “in those instances where protected speech grates most *291unpleasantly against the sensibilities that judicial vigilance must be at its height.” Young v. American Mini Theatres, 42.7 U.S. 50, 87, 96 S.Ct. 2440, 2460, 49 L. Ed.2d 310, 336 (1976)(Stewart, J., dissenting). Because the Borough of Keyport had no evidence of deleterious secondary effects before it when it enacted its restrictive zoning ordinance, our jurisprudence requires that we strike down the ordinance as unconstitutional.
[Id at 189-90 (citations and footnotes omitted).]
II
The Court cites three sources in its analysis of whether the State has substantiated the governmental interests it seeks to advance through the signage regulation contained in N.J.S.A 2C:34-7(c). The Court first acknowledges that one of those sources, the position statement by the Concerned Women for America that was considered by the Assembly Judiciary Law and Public Safety Committee, does not address signage, traffic safety, or harm to minors. Its focus is solely on “the connection between violent, sexually explicit material and violent crime____” Ante at 272, 716 A.2d at 1145.
The Court’s opinion breaks new constitutional ground, however, when it purports to rely on the floor speech delivered by the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Creeco, as constituting legislative history that establishes the existence of governmental interests sought to be advanced by the signage regulation. The full text of that speech follows:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to urge you to vote for the Assembly Committee Substitute to A-25ÍV842 and to offer floor amendments.
The amendments would make this committee substitute consistent with Senate Bill 342, sponsored by Senator Gormley.
This legislation regulates the operations of sexually oriented businesses, such as “juice bars.” These establishments would not be allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of any school, playground, park or place of worship, or within 1,000 feet of any residential area.
This bill does not affect the right of municipalities to adopt zoning ordinances establishing so called “combat” zones for the clustering of sexually oriented businesses.
Additionally, the bill mandates the external appearance of sexually oriented businesses be surrounded by 50-foot wide perimeter buffers made up of plantings, and limits the number and size of signs.
*292This 50 foot distance restriction would help to preserve neighborhoods and to prevent urban blight.
The buffer plantings would help to establish a distance between businesses and minors who may be in the area. These would also eliminate embarrassment by citizens who might be walking by.
Sign restrictions would be advantageous because multiple signs distract motorists and cause accidents.
This bill also addresses the use of prohibited enclosures or private booths for the purpose of viewing pornographic motion pictures, and other photographic representations which depict or describe sexual activity. This prohibition would help to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
Violators would be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree, which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months or a fine of up to $7,500 or both.
We need to put the brakes on these sorts of element [sic] in all municipalities in the State of New Jersey. Parents are concerned about their children being exposed to these types of perverted establishments' and their sordid activities.
Owners of these businesses need to know that they will not be able to break the law and get away with it.
I ask for your favorable consideration of this bill and the amendments. Thank you.
[Floor Speech in Favor of Assembly Bill 252 (Dec. 15,1994)(statement of Marion Crecco, Assemblywoman).]
The obvious irrelevance of Assemblywoman Crecco’s speech to the issue before us is simply incontrovertible, except to the extent that it demonstrates the Court’s willingness to cite to the flimsiest shred of legislative history to sustain this statute. Only two sentences in the speech relate at all to the secondary effects advanced by the State: traffic safety and concern for minors.
Sign restrictions would be advantageous because multiple signs distract motorists and cause accidents.
We need to put the brakes on these sorts of element [sic] in all municipalities in the State of New Jersey. Parents are concerned about their children being exposed to these types of perverted establishments and their sordid activities.
Obviously, neither statement has any evidentiary support. Although the latter statement mentions children, its reference to “perverted establishments and their sordid activities” more persuasively suggests that the statute is designed to regulate the content of speech rather than to control secondary effects. In any event, the Court’s reliance on the speech for any purpose ignores the Supreme Court’s admonition in Benton: “What motivates one *293legislator to make a speech about a statute is not necessarily what motivates scores of others to enact it, and the stakes are sufficiently high for us to eschew guesswork.” Renton, supra, 475 U.S. at 48, 106 S.Ct. at 929, 89 L. Ed.2d at 38 (quoting United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 384, 88 S.Ct. 1673, 1683, 20 L. Ed.2d 672, 684 (1968)).
Finally, the Court relies on the legislative history of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2, a statute that the Legislature considered during approximately the same time frame in which it enacted N.J.S.A 2C:34-7(c). That statute makes it unlawful for the operator of a sexually oriented business to offer for public use booths, screens, enclosures or other devices that facilitate sexual activity by patrons.
The Court acknowledges that the legislative history of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2 was not part of the trial record in this proceeding, but was included in the State’s Appellate Division appendix. Ante at 273, 716 A.2d at 1146. The Court further acknowledges that the legislative history of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2 demonstrates the Legislature’s concern with the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses that provide private viewing booths for their patrons. Ante at 273-74, 716 A.2d at 1146. What the Court fails to acknowledge is that the legislative history of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2 proffered by the State can be scoured from beginning to end without discovering any evidence whatsoever that even remotely suggests that N.J.S.A. 2C:34-7(c) advances the governmental interest in promoting traffic safety or in protecting minors. The Court’s reliance on that legislative history is diversionary and unjustified.
Ill
The hard fact is that this record not only contains insufficient evidence to sustain this statute — it contains no evidence at all. The State could not help but be aware of the deficiencies in the record. Inexplicably, the State failed to avail itself of the opportunity to introduce supplemental supporting evidence before the *294trial court of the secondary governmental interests served by the statute and of how the statute advances those interests. That the State could have produced evidence sufficient to sustain the statute I have little doubt. I have no doubt, however, that for the Court to comb this record in a vain attempt to find evidence that the State simply has failed to produce is both unseemly and inappropriate. In short, that is not our job.
In sustaining this statute we ignore not only federal precedents but our own as well. In Zilinsky v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Verona, 105 N.J. 363, 371, 521 A.2d 841 (1987), we acknowledged that when a fundamental right is infringed by ordinance a municipality has the burden of articulating the governmental objectives underlying the ordinance either in the legislative process or by offering testimony at a court hearing. In Bell v. Township of Stafford, 110 N.J. 384, 541 A.2d 692 (1988), we invalidated a municipal ordinance that prohibited billboards throughout the municipality precisely because the Township failed to demonstrate the governmental interests advanced by the ordinance. We observed:
In applying the test for determining the constitutional validity of an enactment that restricts or impinges on freedom of speech and expression, we are mindful that ordinarily legislative enactments are presumed to be valid and the burden to prove invalidity is a heavy one____
Nevertheless, if an enactment directly impinges on a constitutionally protected right, the presumption in favor of its validity disappears. Courts are far more demanding of clarity, specificity and restrictiveness with respect to legislative enactments that have a demonstrable impact on fundamental rights.
The ordinance fails to reveal either its particular governmental objectives or its factual underpinnings. As the Appellate Division noted, the record is almost completely devoid of any evidence concerning what interests of Stafford are served by the ordinance and the extent to which the ordinance has advanced those interests. Because the exercise of first amendment rights and freedom of speech are at stake, the municipality cannot seek refuge in a presumption of validity. It clearly had the burden to present and confirm those compelling legitimate governmental interests and a reasonable factual basis for its regulatory scheme in order to validate its legislative action. Its failure to do so is fatal.
[Id. at 394-96, 541 A.2d 692 (citations omitted).]
*295In State v. Miller, 83 N.J. 402, 416 A.2d 821 (1980), we invalidated a municipal ordinance that severely restricted the content of signs in residential areas and limited the size of such signs to not more than six square feet. We noted that “[t]o withstand the strict constitutional scrutiny required here, the restriction on signs must be tied to a compelling municipal interest____” Id. at 414, 416 A.2d 821. We also observed that “[l]imitations on the size of a sign may be imposed if the allowable square footage is not determined in an arbitrary manner____ Inadequate sign dimensions may strongly impair the free flow of protected speech.” Id. at 416, 416 A.2d 821.
No evidence in this record suggests any rational basis for the forty-foot limitation on the size of signs permitted for sexually oriented businesses. That a rational basis for that limitation could have been advanced is beside the point. The legislative record on that issue is non-existent, and for all this Court knows the size limitation was plucked out of thin air.
These are "not idealistic or academic concerns. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals explained the interests at stake in SDJ, Inc. v. City of Houston, 837 F.2d 1268, 1274 (1988):
It is true that the effect on speech here is said to be incidental to a regulation aimed at the secondary effects of a business whose activities are within the legitimate scope of the state’s police power. Yet, unlike our review under a standard of rationality, we will not hypothesize such an objective or accept a naked assertion. Rather, we intrude into the regulatory decision process to the extent that we insist upon objective evidence of purpose — a study or findings. Insisting upon findings reduces the risk that a purported effort to regulate effect is a mask for regulation of content. That is, evidence of legitimate purpose is supported by proof that secondary effects actually exist and are the result of the business subject to the regulation____ Our task in setting the level of review is to strike for that point of equilibrium that vindicates first amendment values at the least cost to a state’s decisional arrangements.
IV
I would remand this matter to the Law Division and require the State to prove its case. The record before the Court cannot possibly sustain the constitutionality of the statute under review. For the Court to strain to uphold this statute on the record *296presented disserves the fundamental and enduring interests protected by the First Amendment.
For affirmance — Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices HANDLER, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI, and COLEMAN — 6.
Concur in part; dissent in part — Justice STEIN — 1.