Cite as: 531 U. S. 278 (2001)
Syllabus
speculation standing alone, however, did not shield the case from a mootness determination. Another factor figured prominently. The nude dancing entrepreneur in Erie sought to have the case declared moot after the business had prevailed below, obtaining a state-court judgment that invalidated Erie's ordinance. Id., at 288. Acceptance of the mootness plea would have resulted in dismissal of the petition, leaving intact the judgment below. See ASARCO Inc. v. Kadish, 490 U. S. 605, 621, n. 1. As a result, Erie would have been saddled with an ongoing injury, i. e., the judgment striking its law, and the adult business arguably would have prevailed in an attempt to manipulate the Court's jurisdiction to insulate a favorable decision from review, 529 U. S., at 288. Here, in contrast, City News left the fray a loser, not a winner. Dismissal of the petition will not keep Waukesha under the weight of an adverse judgment, deprive the City of its state-court victory, or reward an arguable manipulation of the Court's jurisdiction. The Court also rejects City News's contention that it experiences ongoing injury because it is conclusively barred by Waukesha's ordinance from reopening as an adult business until 2005. It is far from clear whether City News actually suffers that disability. And a live controversy is not maintained by speculation that City News might be temporarily disabled from reentering a business that it has left and currently asserts no plan to reenter. See Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U. S. 1, 15-16. Pp. 282-285.
(b) City News's contention that it remains a qualified complainant also fails on another ground. Full briefing and argument have revealed that the Freedman question City News tendered, and which the Court took up for review, is not now and never was accurately reflective of City News's grievance. Unlike the initial license applicant whose expression cannot begin prepermission, City News was already licensed to conduct an adult business and sought to fend off a stop order. Swift judicial review is the remedy needed by those held back from speaking. The Court does not doubt that an ongoing adult enterprise facing loss of its license to do business may allege First Amendment injuries. Such an establishment's typical concern, however, is not the speed of court proceedings, but the availability of a stay of adverse action during the pendency of judicial review, however long that review takes. Unlike the Freedman petitioner, who sought, through swift court review, an end to the status quo of silence, City News sought to maintain, pendente lite, the status quo of speech (or expressive conduct). This Court ventures no view on the merits of an argument urging preservation of speech (or expressive conduct) as the status quo pending administrative and judicial review proceedings. That question is not the one on which
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