ABSTRACT
In California v. LaRue, 409 US 109, the Supreme Court upheld a state law that denied liquor licenses to establishments that offered nude dancing in bars. Since the early 1980s, nightclubs that offer various kinds of nude dancing or striptease acts have become increasingly popular. In a series of US Supreme Court decisions, nude dancing, especially in clubs or cabarets, has been declared a form of symbolic expression. In Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 US 560, the Court ruled that nude dancing was expressive. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in the majority opinion of the narrow five-four holding, stated that nude dancing was "within the outer perimeters of the First Amendment, although only marginally so." Justice Byron R. White and several other dissenters argued that the Indiana statute was prohibiting expressive conduct and that nudity was essentially related to the message of the dance; the dissenters would have held the regulation unconstitutional.
