Cite as: 529 U. S. 277 (2000)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Ante, at 289. To begin with, the preamble to Erie's ordinance candidly articulates its agenda, declaring:
"Council specifically wishes to adopt the concept of Public Indecency prohibited by the laws of the State of Indiana, which was approved by the U. S. Supreme Court in Barnes vs. Glen Theatre Inc., . . . for the purpose of limiting a recent increase in nude live entertainment within the City." App. to Pet. for Cert. 42a (emphasis added); see also ante, at 290.10
As its preamble forthrightly admits, the ordinance's "pur-pose" is to "limi[t]" a protected form of speech; its invocation of Barnes cannot obliterate that professed aim.11
Erie's ordinance differs from the statute in Barnes in another respect. In Barnes, the Court expressly observed that the Indiana statute had not been given a limiting construction by the Indiana Supreme Court. As presented to this Court, there was nothing about the law itself that would confine its application to nude dancing in adult entertainment establishments. See 501 U. S., at 564, n. 1 (discussing Indiana Supreme Court's lack of a limiting construction); see also id., at 585, n. 2 (Souter, J., concurring in judgment).
10 The preamble also states: "[T]he Council of the City of Erie has [found] . . . that certain lewd, immoral activities carried on in public places for profit . . . lead to the debasement of both women and men . . . ." App. to Pet. for Cert. 41a.
11 Relying on five words quoted from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the plurality suggests that I have misinterpreted that court's reading of the preamble. Ante, at 290. What follows, however, is a more complete statement of what that court said on this point:
"We acknowledge that one of the purposes of the Ordinance is to combat negative secondary effects. That, however, is not its only goal. Inextricably bound up with this stated purpose is an unmentioned purpose that directly impacts on the freedom of expression: that purpose is to impact negatively on the erotic message of the dance. . . . We believe . . . that the stated purpose for promulgating the Ordinance is inextricably linked with the content-based motivation to suppress the expressive nature of nude dancing." 553 Pa. 348, 359, 719 A. 2d 273, 279 (1998).
327
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