NJ Adult Cabarets Now OK To Advertise BYOB, Court Says

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.—One might think that New Jersey, being just across the border from liberal New York City and environs, would be fairly liberal itself, but sometimes its arcane rules and regulations boggle the mind. For instance, it's perfectly legal for patrons of adult cabarets (aka strip clubs) to bring their own beer and wine (but nothing harder) to imbibe while they watch the pretty women take off their clothes to music, but for many years, those same clubs were not allowed to advertise that their clientele could BYOB. At least one club chain, Stiletto's, which has locations in Atlantic City and Carlstadt, N.J., and Nanuet, N.Y., didn't like the advertising ban one bit, and on April 7, 2017, it sued in federal court, charging that the bottle advertising ban was hurting its business, and that it was illogical that it couldn't advertise something that it was entirely legal to do: namely, bring beer and wine into its clubs. In fact, clubs that tried to do so could be prosecuted under disorderly conduct laws. The suit named Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Police Department in its complaint, arguing the New Jersey statute prohibiting Stiletto's advertising its BYOB policy "bans truthful, non-misleading advertising ... therefore acts as a prior restraint on constitutionally-protected commercial speech." The suit asked the court to allow it to advertise on its website, signs and menus the BYOB policy, to make patrons aware of their options. But after more than a year and a half's litigation, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez ruled on November 26 that, "New Jersey's statutory ban on BYOB advertising places a content-based restriction on speech that fails strict scrutiny because it is not supported by a compelling government interest," and further found the language of New Jersey's statute banning advertising "outside or inside the premises" to be unconstitutional. "While the state may, and does, regulate conduct regarding alcoholic beverages, it has not shown that regulating the speech concerning that conduct furthers a governmental interest sufficient to override the constitutional rights at stake in this case," the judge stated in his 13-page ruling, drawing a distinction between the state's proper power to regulate alcoholic beverages and the banning of speech about such beverages. New Jersey Attorney General's Office spokesperson Leland Moore said his office would have no comment on the ruling, which leaves open the possibility that the state might appeal, but at least for the moment, BYOB advertising is legal in the state.