“The Supreme Court denied our petition for writ just like they denied another 130 petitions the same day,” Albright said. “It was a great appeal but the Supreme Court takes very few appeals.”
The Dallas Police Department began enforcing the new hours of operation for the businesses in December. The curfew was approved by the Dallas City Council through an ordinance in January 2022, and the penalty for breaking it could be up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. Neighboring cities such as Plano and Fort Worth have similar curfews on the books. The sexually oriented businesses sued the city the same day the ordinance was passed. The ordinance applies to strip clubs, escort services and adult book and video stores.
Since the ordinance was passed, workers and establishment owners alike have worried about the repercussions, from lost hours to lost revenue.“It was a great appeal but the Supreme Court takes very few appeals.” – Roger Albright, attorney
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Meanwhile, the city argues that these establishments, particularly during those early morning hours, are linked to incidences of violent crime and are a drain on police and fire department resources. The district court initially sided with the businesses, saying Dallas didn’t have the facts to back up the claim that sexually oriented establishments are tied to violent crime between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. However, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, saying the city had plenty of evidence to back up its claim after all.
The 5th Circuit ruling made note of a rash of fatal shootings in or near sexually oriented businesses in Dallas from late 2020 to early 2021. Additionally, a DPD task force that operated for eight months conducted patrols near these businesses after midnight, resulting in 123 felony arrests; it responded to 134 calls for service, issued more than 1,100 citations and seized drugs and weapons on 350 occasions. The department also found that the hours between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. accounted for a majority of aggravated assaults, rapes, robberies and murders around sexually oriented businesses in 2020 and 2021.
Lawyers for the sexually oriented businesses say DPD’s crime data is skewed because it includes crime from within a 500-foot radius of the establishments, and doesn’t account for other businesses that are also open during the early morning hours. They argue that is why the district court ruled in favor of the sexually oriented businesses, adding that the ordinance compromised the business operators' protected speech.
Albright said the U.S. Supreme Court decision was not unexpected. Now, he said, the legal battle goes back to district court where a trial date will be set. “The fight is not over,” he said.
