United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109 (1972)

California v. LaRue

No. 71-36

Argued October 10, 1972

Decided December 5, 1972

409 U.S. 109

Syllabus

Following hearings, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control issued regulations prohibiting explicitly sexual live entertainment and films in bars and other establishments licensed to dispense liquor by the drink. A three-judge District Court held the regulations invalid under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, concluding that, under standards laid down by this Court, some of the proscribed entertainment could not be classified as obscene or lacking a communicative element.

Held: In the context not of censoring dramatic performances in a theater, but of licensing bars and nightclubs to sell liquor by the drink, the States have broad latitude under the Twenty-first Amendment to control the manner and circumstances under which liquor may be dispensed, and here the conclusion that sale of liquor by the drink and lewd or naked entertainment should not take place simultaneously in licensed establishments was not irrational, nor was the prophylactic solution unreasonable. Pp. 409 U. S. 114-119.

326 F.Supp. 348, reversed.

REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and STEWART, WHITE, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. STEWART, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 409 U. S. 119. DOUGLAS, J., post, p. 409 U. S. 120, BRENNAN, J., post, p. 409 U. S. 123, and MARSHALL, J., post, p. 409 U. S. 123, filed dissenting opinions.

Page 409 U. S. 110