For the past several years, three adult book and video stores in Miami-Dade County have been fighting the county in order to keep doors on their video viewing booths. The case originally was before Judge Aldaberto Jordan, United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida, who close to two years ago declared that the Miami-Dade County Ordinance was constitutional.
The bookstores took the fight up to the next level, that being the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals out of Atlanta. Just last month, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Jordan’s ruling thereby validating Miami-Dade County’s Ordinance to requires doors off booths.
The bookstores still have the opportunity to take the fight to the United States Supreme Court. Whether this will be done or not will depend on each individual bookstore as to whether they want to continue the fight. If the fight is not continued and the ruling stands, doors off the booths in Miami-Dade County will be the order of the day.
In other news, as reported earlier, Daytona Grand has decided to take their fight up to the United States Supreme Court. For those of you who do not remember or are unfamiliar with the matter, this is the case out of Daytona Beach in which originally Federal District Court Judge John Antoon, III declared the Daytona Beach nudity and alcohol nudity ordinances to be unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his decision. In doing so, the Eleventh District Court of Appeals enunciated new standards of law, totally changing the landscape for the states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The Daytona Grand case, not only conflicts with decisions out of other circuits, but also conflicts with decisions within the Eleventh Circuit. There is no way to reconcile the Daytona Grand case with the Peek-A-Boo and Flanagan cases also out of the Eleventh Circuit. Based upon these conflicts within the Eleventh Circuit and with conflicts with other cases from other circuits, it is hoped that the Supreme Court will exercise jurisdiction. Last term the Supreme Court declined to hear cases from around the country dealing with similar issues involved in Daytona Grand. It is now hoped that the Supreme Court will recognize that the state of law is so varied throughout the country that it is time that they addressed the issue of adverse secondary effects in regards to adult entertainment and what level of proof is needed for a city to prove those adverse secondary effects.
Lastly, we wish all of you a happy holiday season, good health and a happy New Year.