A quartet of lawsuits—three of which have been sitting dormant on the federal docket for over a decade—are challenging a nearly 17-year-old rezoning plan they claim will chill protected speech and help to hasten the years-long shrinking of possible locations adult-oriented businesses can operate .

Their arguments are simple, even if the issue isn’t, as the years of litigation in state courts that preceded the reanimation of the current federal suits proves. They contend that should a 2001 rezoning law be allowed to go forward, the restrictions on where strip clubs, adult book stores, and other erotic-themed businesses will be so onerous that the only foreseeable outcome will be their closing, extinguishing a constitutionally protected form of expression in the five boroughs.