Judge bars release of licensing information on strippers

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge has barred Pierce County from releasing the licensing information of a group of strippers.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton says the women's constitutional rights trump the state's Public Records Act.

The News Tribune reports that Leighton's decision released Aug. 10 makes permanent an earlier ruling to temporarily bar the release of the information.

David Van Vleet says he requested the information so he could pray for the women.

The dancers feared that if it was made public, they could be the subject of harassment or other harm. They asked Leighton to declare the Public Records Act unconstitutional as it applied to them.

He declined to go that far. Instead he said the law contained adequate provisions to protect the dancers' rights to privacy. He limited his ruling to Van Vleet's request.