MBE Rules · Constitutional Law
Secondary Effects
Renton v. Playtime Theatres
The rule
Zoning aimed at the secondary effects of adult businesses (crime, property values) is treated as content-neutral and reviewed as a time, place, manner regulation despite facially content-based terms.
In plain English
The secondary effects doctrine allows governments to regulate adult businesses based on the negative impacts they may have on the surrounding community, such as increased crime or decreased property values, rather than the content of the materials these businesses sell. This means that even if the zoning laws appear to target specific types of speech, they are treated as neutral regulations regarding the time, place, and manner of the businesses.
Worked example
A city enacts a zoning ordinance that restricts adult entertainment establishments to certain areas, citing concerns about increased crime and declining property values in neighborhoods with such businesses. Although the law seems to target adult content, the court finds it is a valid time, place, and manner regulation focused on secondary effects. As a result, the ordinance is upheld.
Memory hook
Regulate the effects, not the content!
The trap
Students may mistakenly believe that any regulation mentioning adult content is automatically content-based and thus subject to strict scrutiny. However, if the regulation is genuinely aimed at secondary effects, it may be upheld under a more lenient standard.
How examiners test it
Questions often present a zoning ordinance with facially content-based language and ask whether it is constitutional, requiring students to analyze the intent behind the regulation and its focus on secondary effects.
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