Nude Dancing in Kandyland

Case Type:		Actual
Exigence:		In 1994, the Erie, PA city council banned public nudity. In response, PAP'S A.M., the owner of Kandyland, a nude dancing establishment in Erie, sued, arguing that the ordinance was unconstitional. After a variety of lower court orders, and some modifications in Kandyland's dancing practices, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the ordinance was in fact unconstitional. The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted the case, and heard oral argument in November, 1999.
Audience:		The U.S. Supreme Court.
Possible Constraints:		General background on the case can be found at Medill's On the Docket website and at the Freedom Forum's website. Reporting on the controversy as it developed, from the Freedom Forum 11/10/99: Oral arguments 5/19/99: A review of the case 5/18/99: The Supreme Court accepts the case 10/22/98: The PA Supreme Court strikes down the ordinance The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's opinion (pdf format). The U.S. Supreme Court's multiple opinions in Barnes v. Glen Theatre (1991), the precedent on nude dancing. Most of the briefs submitted by the parties and amici ("friends of the court") in the case, courtesy of Findlaw, in both web and pdf format. I especially recommend the briefs of the Fourteen States and of Orange County, arguing on the city's side, and the Dante Project, the Feminists for Free Expression, and the Thomas Jefferson Center, arguing on the strip club's side. The online audio presentation "Strippers" linked from this page interviews strippers and their customers to consider the growth of strip clubs in the 1990s. This newspaper report interviews sex workers in south Florida, part of a report on the business of sex. Two organizations of the women who work in the clubs: Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education The Exotic Dancers Alliance The community view on nude dancing establishments: The Community Defense Foundation, with information on the secondary effects of sex businesses. (Note: registration required.)
Decision:		In another splintered decision, the Supreme Court upheld the nude dancing ban.
Related issues:		Offense Sex Time, place and manner regulations Expressive conduct Art
Notes:		This is the case for the second paper in Comm Studies 330 (Winter, 2000).

For help
with these categories.

Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved.
jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
Last updated 27 January 2000
The Free Speech website,

http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/