City News & Novelty, Inc. v. Waukesha, 531 U.S. 278, 4 (2001)

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Cite as: 531 U. S. 278 (2001)

Opinion of the Court

Those requirements included assurance of "a prompt final judicial decision, to minimize the deterrent effect of an interim and possibly erroneous denial of a license." Id., at 59. Twenty-five years later, in FW/PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U. S. 215 (1990), the Court applied some of the Freedman standards to a municipal ordinance conditioning the operation of sexually oriented businesses on receipt of a license. Unsuccessful applicants for an adult business license, the opinion announcing the judgment stated, must be accorded "an avenue for prompt judicial review." 493 U. S., at 229.

Courts have divided over the meaning of FW/PBS's "prompt judicial review" requirement. Some have held that the unsuccessful applicant for an adult business license must be assured a prompt judicial determination on the merits of the permit denial. See, e. g., Baby Tam & Co. v. Las Vegas, 154 F. 3d 1097, 1101-1102 (CA9 1998); 11126 Baltimore Blvd., Inc. v. Prince George's County, 58 F. 3d 988, 999-1000 (CA4 1995) (en banc). Others, like the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin whose judgment is before us, 231 Wis. 2d 93, 115-116, 604 N. W. 2d 870, 882 (1999), have held that prompt access to court review suffices. See, e. g., Boss Capital, Inc. v. Casselberry, 187 F. 3d 1251, 1256-1257 (CA11 1999); TK's Video, Inc. v. Denton County, 24 F. 3d 705, 709 (CA5 1994). We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict. 530 U. S. 1242 (2000). We now find, however, that the issue stemming from Freedman is not genuinely presented to us in this case. We therefore dismiss the petition and leave the judgment of the Wisconsin court undisturbed.

I

The City of Waukesha, Wisconsin (City), requires sellers of sexually explicit materials to obtain and annually renew adult business licenses. See Waukesha Municipal Code §§ 8.195(2), (7) (1995), reprinted in App. to Pet. for Cert. 101, 104. Petitioner City News and Novelty, Inc. (City News), pursuant to a City license first obtained in 1989, owned and

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