The U.S. Supreme Court will not review a Dallas ordinance enforcing curfews on strip clubs and sexually oriented businesses.
The Supreme Court issued its denial Monday without an opinion.
A petition to review the curfew was filed by area strip clubs, an adult novelty store and the Association of Club Executives of Dallas after a federal appeals court allowed the ordinance to go into effect.
The city first approved a curfew in 2022. Under it, strip clubs and sexually oriented businesses are required to close between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
The curfew ordinance was temporarily blocked after the petitioners sued the city, but that decision was overturned in October 2023.
KERA News reached out to the petitioners’ attorney for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The curfew ordinance attracted controversy when it was first introduced and approved.
At the time, some residents said a curfew would be bad for sex businesses, employee working hours, and a "cultural harm” to the city’s LGBTQ community, KERA News previously reported.
Others in support of the curfew wanted relief from crime near the businesses.
Prior to the ordinance, sexually oriented businesses in Dallas could stay open 24 hours a day.
Dallas Police Department officials documented nearly 550 aggravated assaults around sex businesses in Northwest Dallas prior to the ordinance’s approval. More than 20% of those occurred between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., KERA News previously reported.
Dallas is not the only North Texas jurisdiction to implement a curfew.
Last year, Tarrant County passed an ordinance requiring sexually oriented businesses in unincorporated parts of the county to close by 1 a.m. The ordinance was in response to the problems at Temptations Cabaret, a strip club local officials called “a hotbed of crime.”
Temptations Cabaret had its business permit revoked and has since closed.
Got a tip? Email Megan Cardona at mcardona@kera.org.
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