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ATLANTA — The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the city of Chamblee, Georgia, upholding a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the parent company of a now-closed strip club.
Follies, once a prominent club in Chamblee, had challenged local ordinances that prohibited adult entertainment venues from serving alcohol and featuring fully nude dancers. The club’s owners argued that these restrictions violated their First Amendment rights and waged a years-long legal battle against the city.
In 2020, after a federal judge dismissed one of its cases, the club permanently closed. That ruling was later appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, which this week affirmed the lower court’s decision.
“On appeal, Follies argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on its free speech claims,” the appellate ruling stated. The judges noted that the club had urged the courts to apply a strict scrutiny standard to the ordinances, contending they imposed unconstitutional limits on free expression.
The court disagreed, finding that the city had demonstrated “a substantial government interest in decreasing property crime, prostitution, sexual assault, and violence around the adult establishment in its community while still permitting alternative channels of communication, mainly semi-nude erotic dancing.”
By applying a lower level of judicial scrutiny, the panel upheld the ordinances as constitutional.
Follies initially appealed the case in August 2021. At present, there is no indication of any appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
