Facts
- The City of Renton, Washington enacted a zoning ordinance barring “adult motion picture theaters” from locating within 1,000 feet of any residential zone, dwelling, church, park, or school.
- Playtime Theatres, Inc. purchased two Renton theaters intending to show adult films and sued in federal court for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment violations.
- The ordinance did not prohibit adult theaters citywide; it restricted their locations and left some land in the city theoretically available for adult theaters (about 5% of the city’s acreage).
- The City justified the ordinance as addressing adverse effects associated with adult theaters in surrounding areas, not the content of adult films.
Issues
- Whether the ordinance is a content-based restriction on speech or a content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation.
- Whether Renton’s interest in reducing adverse effects associated with adult theaters is a substantial governmental interest.
- Whether the ordinance leaves open reasonable alternative avenues of communication for adult movie exhibition.
Decision
- The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and upheld the ordinance, reinstating judgment for the City.
- The Court treated the ordinance as a content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation because it targeted the secondary effects of adult theaters rather than suppressing protected expression.
- The Court held that preserving the quality of urban life and addressing crime, property values, and related effects are substantial governmental interests.
- The Court held that Renton could rely on evidence and experiences from other cities (including Seattle) to support its judgment about secondary effects.
- The Court concluded the ordinance left open reasonable alternative avenues of communication and that the First Amendment does not guarantee adult theaters a preferred location or low-cost sites.
Legal Principles
- A content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation is valid if it serves a substantial governmental interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative avenues of communication.
- Zoning measures aimed at the secondary effects of adult businesses may be treated as content-neutral even though they single out adult theaters by category.
- A city may rely on studies and experiences from other jurisdictions to justify regulations directed at anticipated secondary effects.
- The First Amendment requires reasonable opportunity for the expression to occur, not access to the most commercially desirable sites.
Conclusion
Renton’s adult-theater zoning ordinance was upheld because it was evaluated as a content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction directed at secondary effects, supported by substantial governmental interests, and leaving reasonable alternative locations for adult theaters.