City Of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc.

475 U.S. 41 (1986)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Renton (D) promulgated an ordinance which restricted zoning of an adult movie theater operating within a certain distance from a private residence or certain other public facilities. The Respondent (P), the owner of an adult movie theater, asserted that the ordinance violated its rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and First Amendment Freedom of Speech. D amended the ordinance adding a statement of reasons for its enactment and reducing the minimum distance from any school to 1,000 feet. The Court entered a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the D ordinance. Eventually, the Court vacated the preliminary injunction, denied P’s requested permanent injunction, and entered summary judgment in favor of D. D was not required to show specific adverse impact from the operation of adult theaters, but could rely on the experiences of other cities, that the purposes of the ordinance were unrelated to the suppression of speech, and that the restrictions on speech imposed by the ordinance were no greater than necessary to further the governmental interests involved. The Court of Appeals concluded that the ordinance constituted a substantial restriction on First Amendment interests. It held that D had improperly relied on the experiences of other cities in lieu of evidence about the effects of adult theaters on D. D had thus failed to establish the existence of a substantial governmental interest in support of its ordinance, and D's asserted interests had not been shown to be unrelated to the suppression of expression. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed in favor of Petitioner.