How protected is nudity?

by   |  01.22.06  |  Current Events

We talked a little about this in class last week, but a Florida judge has ruled Daytona Beach’s anti-nudity laws are unconstitutional.

This appears to flatly contradict the SCOTUS decision in City of Erie v. PAP’S A.M., 529 U.S. 277 (2000), where Justice O’Connor wrote “[e]ven if Erie’s public nudity ban has some minimal effect on the erotic message by muting that portion of the expression that occurs when the last stitch is dropped, the dancers… are free to perform wearing pasties and G-strings.” “The requirement… is a minimal restriction in furtherance of the asserted government interests, and the restriction leaves ample capacity to convey the dancers’ erotic message.”