CARNAL NATION

Federal Judge Julie Robinson has blocked a Kansas law banning roadside signs for strip clubs and sex shops. The Kansas law joins similar laws in Georgia South Carolina and Missouri that have been struck down in the past. The law was enacted in 2006 and was scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2009. It would have put strict limits on signs within one mile of a highway that advertise adult businesses.

While not ruling on the constitutional question, the judge ruled that the plaintiff, the Lions Den Adult Superstore, had a substantial likelihood of prevailing in the case. The state had claimed that some items at the store were obscene and, therefore, illegal; however, Judge Robinson wrote that “Because [the state] acknowledges, as it must, that not all of the products offered for sale at Lion’s Den are illegal, its claim that the advertising necessarily proposes an illegal transmission is misplaced.”

The full ruling is available online: Abilene Retail #30 v. Six,

Score one for free speech. [via First Amendment Center]