SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has ordered the state of Utah to pay more than $475,000 in legal fees after state officials fined a theater and threatened to rescind its liquor license under a law that bans serving alcohol during movies with simulated sex or full-frontal nudity.
The movie title at the center of the case was the mainstream superhero film “Deadpool,” which has an R rating because the movie has some light sex scenes.
The Brewvies theater was hit with a $25,000 fine and almost had its liquor license temporarily suspended, which would have been a big blow because its name spells out what you can do there — drink while you view movies.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ordered the state to pay the theater's legal fees.
Nuffer earlier issued a ruling in favor of Brewvies on First Amendment grounds. Brewvies attorneys had argued that the law hampered the theater's free-speech rights.
In his order over legal fees, Nuffer warned the Legislature and the Utah Attorney General’s office that passing and defending an unconstitutional law can be “expensive.”
“The political judgment of the state that it will enact a statute contrary to existing law and risk payment of legal fees is a legitimate choice, but it has consequences,” Nuffer wrote. “As long as the Legislature passes laws which the attorney general is obligated to defend, the financial risks to the state and taxpayers will continue.
“Legislative enactment of constitutional legislation — and abandonment or nonenforcement of unconstitutional legislation — is a better way to avoid this type of fee award."
Utah has long sought to play a central role in guiding moral compasses.
State legislators have crafted numerous pieces of legislation to curb civil liberties, some of which have affected stakeholders in the adult entertainment industry.
Utah’s Legislature has been particularly concerned with the dissemination of adult content online. In recent years, the state's leadership has created a much-lampooned “porn czar” and passed laws identifying porn as a legitimate “health crisis.”
Just last year, the state’s governor signed into law legislation allowing parents to sue distributors of porn for the psychological harms caused by viewing sexual content.
