SCOTUS Clears NYC Crackdown on Adult Stores

By: Andy Powell, Senior Editor | JRL CHARTS – Adult Industry News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — (November 20, 2025) — The U.S. Supreme Court has officially stepped aside in the decades-long fight over New York City’s restrictive adult zoning laws, leaving brick-and-mortar adult retailers exposed to immediate enforcement that many say threatens both their First Amendment rights and their ability to operate lawful businesses.

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied the application for certiorari on Oct. 31, declining to halt a controversial zoning mandate that critics argue was designed to push adult stores out of existence, not regulate them fairly. The denial ends a nearly 30-year legal battle over the City’s attempt to dictate where adult bookstores, video shops, and strip clubs are allowed to operate.

NYC’s original 1995 Zoning Ordinance was part of the Giuliani-era “clean-up” of midtown Manhattan, classifying businesses as “adult establishments” if 40% or more of their materials involved sexual content. But in 2001, New York moved the goalposts — eliminating the 40% rule entirely and adopting a vague standard targeting any business that “primarily” markets adult materials.

Adult retailers argued that the amendment was intentionally crafted to shut down legitimate stores that had already complied with the original law. For more than two decades, courts wrestled with whether the City was violating constitutionally protected free speech, expressive conduct, and equal protection by singling out adult retailers for removal from most commercial zones.

In 2024, a federal district judge sided with the City, ruling that New York could enforce the amendment and force adult shops to relocate to the small handful of zones where such businesses are still permitted — or leave the city entirely. In July 2025, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit upheld that ruling. A petition for rehearing was denied in August, and in October the 2nd Circuit issued a mandate allowing enforcement to begin.

On Oct. 22, attorneys for the adult businesses filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking intervention.

But on Oct. 31, Justice Sotomayor denied the request, closing the final legal avenue.

With certiorari denied, NYC is now cleared to impose zoning rules that industry advocates say leave adult stores with nowhere to go. Even in neighborhoods where adult zoning technically exists, additional restrictions require large setbacks from schools, residences, houses of worship, and even other adult businesses. In practice, these layered restrictions function as a de facto ban on brick-and-mortar adult retail inside the five boroughs.

For adult store owners — many of whom have complied with every shifting regulation for nearly three decades — the decision feels like yet another example of government targeting legal adult commerce while ignoring the constitutional protections that courts have repeatedly recognized as applying to erotic expression.

Industry defenders warn that forcing out adult retailers doesn’t just threaten local jobs and tax revenue — it undermines a legal market that provides safe, regulated spaces for consumers who prefer in-person shopping, consultation, and community support that online marketplaces simply cannot provide.

“This isn’t zoning — it’s erasure,” one trade advocate told JRL CHARTS.
“And the people being erased are small business owners who have operated lawfully for decades.”

As of today, SCOTUS’ refusal to intervene gives New York City full authority to begin enforcement immediately, putting the future of multiple long-standing adult stores in jeopardy.

Stay with JRL CHARTS for real-time updates on zoning cases, legal battles, and the fight to protect adult retailers’ rights nationwide.

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