Bad news for anyone who equates public nudity with public speech: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a federal court has dismissed a First Amendment challenge to the city's new anti-nudity ordinance:
"Nudity is not inherently expressive," [U.S. District Judge Edward] Chen wrote. "The ordinance's general ban on public nudity for the most part regulates conduct only."....Chen noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that nude dancing and other artistic expression is entitled to some constitutional protection but nudity itself is not a statement of anything.
I am reminded of the John Updike quote: "Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mere populism."
