The Texas Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a $5-per-patron tax on strips clubs does not violate the First Amendment, adding the latest chapter to a four-year legal battle. 

Four years and one seemingly endless lawsuit after Texas lawmakers passed a $5-per-patron strip club fee, just 111 of the state’s 176 strip clubs have paid any money. (View our interactive here.) 

Your afternoon reading: Could ghosts of Gov. Rick Perry's past affect his presidential intentions? Meanwhile, parents prepare for budget cuts in the classroom, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says he'll reveal his next campaign move in July.

The state says that if it has the power to ban alcohol in strip clubs, then it can levy a $5 "pole tax." But the clubs argued before the Texas Supreme Court on Thursday that nude dancing is a form of protected speech and that the tax violates the First Amendment.

The Texas Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of a $5 tax on admission to the state's strip clubs — a measure lawmakers implemented in 2007 to raise money for sexual assault prevention and low-income health insurance.