Club wants state court to rule on nudity ban

The Associated Press

The lawyer for a now-defunct nude dance club is hoping to persuade Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court to do what the U.S. Supreme Court would not: Allow women to continue dancing sans pasties and G-strings.

Philip Friedman, who represented Kandyland, a former club in Erie that featured nude dancing, said he will rely on the premise that state courts can offer more rights, but not fewer, than federal courts.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the city had a right to ban nude dancing because it had an “interest in combating the negative secondary effects associated with adult entertainment establishments,” wrote Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

“In my view, it makes absolutely no sense,” Friedman said of the high court’s 6-3 ruling. “They followed a tortuous path.”

Greg Karle, chief lawyer for the city of Erie, agreed that the state Supreme Court could allow nude dancing, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruling found the anti-nudity ordinance constitutional under federal law.

“They are not bound by what the U.S. Supreme Court says,” Karle said. “They could formulate whatever they want to support a state court decision. I would hope they would be concerned with something more high-minded than protecting strip clubs.”

The decision written by O’Connor reversed the opinion of the state Supreme Court, which unanimously struck down the city’s anti-nudity ordinance in 1998. Three of the five state justices based their decision on an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution; the other two based theirs on an interpretation of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Friedman said he will try to persuade the majority of state justices to switch to an interpretation based on the state constitution, which would mean that nude dancing could remain in Pennsylvania.

“The U.S. Constitution provides just a minimal protection of standards for all citizens,” Friedman said. “Because the U.S. Supreme Court has become so conservative, a lot of state courts are looking to their own constitutions to provide protections for their citizens.” Friedman said he does not plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of its March 29 ruling.

In the meantime, Karle and other city officials are getting calls from people around the country who are interested in getting copies of Erie’s 1994 ordinance. The wording was modeled after a 1991 Indiana case and requires female dancers to wear at least pasties and G-strings. City attorneys, clerks and other municipal representatives are asking to review Erie’s law, Karle said Monday.

“What they’re going to do with it, I don’t know. I assume they’re going to consider enacting similar legislation,” Karle said. “I don’t know if they’re going to ape our ordinance word for word, but I’m sure they’re going to try to follow it,” he said.

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