The U.S. Supreme Court says it will not hear an equal rights appeal from three New Hampshire women who were arrested for going topless at Weirs Beach in 2016.
The high court rejected the "Free the Nipple" case Monday, along with dozens of other cases it's declined to hear in its upcoming term.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs says other, similar cases are still proceeding in lower courts around the country.
So he says the justices may have another chance in the future to clarify the constitutionality of female nudity restrictions.
The rejected appeal stemmed from a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling about a year ago. That order upheld a Laconia ordinance that bars women from exposing their nipples in public.
The women in the case were arrested under that ordinance at Laconia's Bike Week in 2016. They argued that rule violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. In its reply to their Supreme Court appeal, the state disagreed.
