Genusa v. City of Peoria

The question in this case is whether a recently enacted "adult use" ordinance of the City of Peoria, Illinois, places restrictions on the operation of adult bookstores that cannot be squared with the First Amendment as made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Peoria ordinance, which is modeled in part on an ordinance of the City of Detroit that was held constitutional in Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 96 S. Ct. 2440, 49 L. Ed. 2d 310 (1976), places numerous zoning, licensing, and employee permit restrictions on the operation of adult bookstores and other adult entertainment establishments in Peoria. Plaintiffs, who are owners of and employees in what are conceded to be "adult bookstores" within the meaning of the ordinance, challenge the ordinance only insofar as it seeks to regulate the operation of adult bookstores. Accordingly, no issue is presented concerning the constitutionality of the ordinance as it applies to other types of adult use establishments.