Foolish Attempt at Censorship

The Santa Ana City Council’s 10 years of fruitless litigation seeking to stop the showing of adult films at the Mitchell Brothers theater may seem to some like dogged determination in a just cause. It’s not. A foolish, wasteful attempt at censorship would be a more apt description.

Rather than a moral crusade, the continuance of the ill-advised and expensive legal battle is a political vendetta being waged by a council fearful of political reaction that it expects from some residents who are more concerned with closing the theater than with constitutional realities and costs.

The council Thursday was given another good reason to end its fruitless legal adventure when Superior Court Judge Claude M. Owens awarded theater owners $50,000 in attorney fees to cover their defense against one of the suits filed by the city. Another Superior Court judge had previously awarded the theater attorney fees on another case brought by the city, but the amount must still be determined. The theater has asked for more than $300,000 to cover its attorney costs in that case.

Thus far, Santa Ana has spent more than $400,000 in funds that could have--and should have--gone to support critically needed city programs. As the court record over the last 10 years shows, the city has a weak case. Indeed, it had no business in the first place ignoring the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and choice and trying to censor what its residents could see. How many more dollars and losing court actions will it take before the council finally realizes that and ends its misguided legal war against a movie house upon which the lease will expire in three years?