The 11th Circuit is generally known as a constitutionally protective circuit. Not lately.
Aside from its reversal in Johnson v. Tampa Bay Sports Authority, it recently issued a horrifying decision in Daytona Grand v. City of Daytona Beach.
I can’t write too much about this case at this time, but, lets just hit the key bunk elements of this case:
- The First Amendment requires that a certain percentage of the land in a municipality must be available for use by adult entertainment establishments. However, the 11th held that if there was one single tract of undeveloped property, and the owner had no intention of selling or leasing, that didn’t matter — it was still “available.”
- If you open an adult entertainment establishment in violation of a clearly unconstitutional law, you get no grandfathering rights under Florida law. What does that mean? Any idiot-governed community in the confederacy can simply pass an unconstitutional adult entertainment ordinance, and this acts as a legal moratorium on any new businesses.
- Despite the fact that Alameda Books requires a city to rely on good data in order to support an adult entertainment ordinance, the 11th rendered that decision meaningless by holding that the city can rely on anecdotal data.
- Despite reams of authority to the contrary, the 11th held that the city could require more covering than pasties and G-strings in an adult entertainment club.
I really don’t know what has happened to our 11th Circuit. It looks like someone got drunk, grabbed the keys to the car, and just yanked the steering wheel to the right.
At least when the 11th decides to sodomize the constitution, it doesn’t do it half-assed.
