Padlocking of a First Amendment Use Under a Nuisance Statute Either Permanently or for a Period of Time Remains an Unsettled Remedy - The ability to constitutionally permanently close down an "adult" bookstore or a theater that has been declared a nuisance remains unsettled. It is also an open question as to the ability of government to close such an operation even for a period of time such as a one-year padlock.
The dichotomy between the cases arises out of a belief of some that such a padlocking, even as a punishment for past conduct, acts as an illegal present prior restraint of future sales or exhibitions of non-obscene material. Other courts have not looked upon such action as unconstitutional and have held that even if it is a prior restraint, it is not an illegal one.