Cite as: 529 U. S. 277 (2000)
Stevens, J., dissenting
place, and manner" regulations.3 See Renton, 475 U. S., at 46; American Mini Theatres, 427 U. S., at 63, and n. 18; id., at 82, n. 6. Because time, place, and manner regulations must "leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information," Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U. S. 781, 791 (1989), a total ban would necessarily fail that test.4
And we so held in Schad v. Mount Ephraim, 452 U. S. 61 (1981). There, we addressed a zoning ordinance that did not merely require the dispersal of adult theaters, but prohibited
3 The plurality contends, ante, at 295, that Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U. S. 781 (1989), shows that we have used the secondary effects rationale to justify more burdensome restrictions than those approved in Renton and American Mini Theatres. That argument is unpersuasive for two reasons. First, as in the two cases just mentioned, the regulation in Ward was as a time, place, and manner restriction. See 491 U. S., at 791; id., at 804 (Marshall, J., dissenting). Second, as discussed below, Ward is not a secondary effects case. See infra, at 325-326.
4 We also held in Renton that in enacting its adult theater zoning ordinance, the city of Renton was permitted to rely on a detailed study conducted by the city of Seattle that examined the relationship between zoning controls and the secondary effects of adult theaters. (It was permitted to rely as well on "the 'detailed findings' summarized" in an opinion of the Washington Supreme Court to the same effect.) 475 U. S., at 51-52. Renton, having identified the same problem in its own city as that experienced in Seattle, quite logically drew on Seattle's experience and adopted a similar solution. But if Erie is relying on the Seattle study as well (as the plurality suggests, ante, at 296-297), its use of that study is most peculiar. After identifying a problem in its own city similar to that in Seattle, Erie has implemented a solution (pasties and G-strings) bearing no relationship to the efficacious remedy identified by the Seattle study (dispersal through zoning).
But the city of Erie, of course, has not in fact pointed to any study by anyone suggesting that the adverse secondary effects of commercial enterprises featuring erotic dancing depends in the slightest on the precise costume worn by the performers—it merely assumes it to be so. See infra, at 323-324. If the city is permitted simply to assume that a slight addition to the dancers' costumes will sufficiently decrease secondary effects, then presumably the city can require more and more clothing as long as any danger of adverse effects remains.
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