City of Littleton, Colorado v. Z.J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C.

514 U.S. 774 (2004)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
C
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

City of Littleton, Colorado v. Z.J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C.

United States Supreme Court
514 U.S. 774 (2004)

Facts

The City of Littleton, Colorado (defendant) enacted an adult business ordinance that required an adult bookstore, adult novelty store, or adult video store to have an adult business license. The ordinance defined adult businesses, required applicants to provide certain basic information about their businesses, insisted upon compliance with local adult business (and other) zoning rules, listed eight specific circumstances that required the city to deny a license, and set forth time limits (usually forty days) within which city officials were required to reach a final licensing decision. The ordinance added that the final decision could be appealed to the state district court under Colorado rules of civil procedure. In 1999, a company called Z.J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C. (ZJ) (plaintiff) opened a store that sold adult books in a place not zoned for adult businesses within the City of Littleton. Instead of applying for an adult business license, ZJ brought suit in district court attacking Littleton’s ordinance as unconstitutional on its face. The district court rejected ZJ’s claims, but the court of appeals reversed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Breyer, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 805,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Constitutional Law