LA HABRA, Calif. — A federal appeals court has upheld La Habra's ordinance requiring strip-club dancers to stay at least 24 inches from customers.

The ordinance was designed to target lap dancing, which the city claims is responsible for prostitution, crime, drug use and disease.

In a 3-0 ruling on Jan.26, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Bill Badi Gammoh, owner of the city's only adult-entertainment club, and by several lap dancers that the ordinance is unconstitutional.

The 2-foot limit does not deny the dancers their ability to perform, the judges said in Gammoh v. City of La Habra.

Attorney Deborah Fox, who represented the city in its fight with the owner of Taboo Gentleman's Club, said it was an important ruling because "lap dancing is the financial linchpin of the adult industry and this is the end of the argument about its prohibition."

Gammoh's fight with the city began shortly after he opened the strip club in 1998 and filed a lawsuit challenging the city's anti-lap dance ordinance as vague and unconstitutional.

The ordinance "unfairly impedes on (a dancer's) right to expression and speech," attorney Scott Wellman said.

The 9th Circuit disagreed. "The 2-foot rule," Judge Richard Tallman wrote, "merely requires that dancers give their performances from a slight distance; it does not prohibit them from giving their performances altogether."

Meanwhile, a Nevada judge ruled on Jan. 21 that a Las Vegas law prohibiting strippers from fondling customers during lap dances is unconstitutionally vague.

District Court Judge Sally Loehrer affirmed a lower court ruling that as many as five misdemeanor criminal cases filed against Las Vegas strippers should be dismissed.

The Jan. 21 ruling affects only dancers within city limits. The Clark County Commission in 2002 limited touching between strippers and patrons during private lap dances, specifically barring strippers from touching or sitting on the customer's genital area. But the municipal code was not as specific, saying only that strippers and their patrons should not "fondle" or "caress" each other.

Under Loehrer's ruling, no dancer in the city can be arrested for violating the municipal code. The city is considering an appeal.