By Laurie Asseo
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 26, 1998; 2:07 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government can continue to ban the sale of Penthouse and other sex-oriented magazines on military bases, following the Supreme Court's rejection Friday of an appeal that contended the law violates free-speech rights.

The court turned down an appeal by Penthouse's publisher that said the 1996 Military Honor and Decency Act was an unlawful attempt by Congress to ``suppress ideas it did not like.''

Closing its 1997-98 term, the court also made it easier for states to impose stiffer sentences on habitual prisoners, ruling 5-4 that double-jeopardy protections do not apply in non-death penalty cases. And, the justices refused to revive a former Utah high school student's lawsuit that said a music teacher violated her religious rights by using his class to promote the Mormon religion.

The law on magazine sales forbids the sale or rental on military property of magazines or videos whose ``dominant theme'' is to portray nudity ``in a lascivious way.'' Service members still can possess non-obscene material on military bases by buying it off-base or through the mail.

The federal law was challenged by General Media Communications, which publishes Penthouse, and other groups that produce and sell magazines and videos.

Their lawyer, Bruce J. Ennis Jr., said Friday the lower court ruling that upheld the law was ``troubling with respect to a very broad range of speech, not just sexually oriented speech.''

Under that ruling's logic, he said: ``The government tomorrow could ban the sale in military exchanges of books or magazines dealing with race or abortion or politics or any subject matter the government night thing was controversial.''

However, the Family Research Council, a conservative Washington-based group, said Friday's Supreme Court action ``dismisses claims by purveyors of smut that selling sexually explicit material to military personnel on government property is a constitutional right.''

A federal judge in New York City struck down the ban as unconstitutional in January 1997. ``Society is better served by protecting our cherished right to free speech, even at the cost of tolerating speech that is outrageous, offensive and demeaning,'' Judge Shira A. Scheindlin wrote.

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judge's ruling last November and upheld the law. The ban is reasonable because it ``promotes military honor, professionalism, proper decorum and military core values'' and avoids sending a message that the military approves of such sexually explicit materials, the appeals court ruled.

The Supreme Court appeal by Penthouse's publisher and the other groups said the November ruling ``will result in massive restriction of the First Amendment rights of our country's military personnel.''

Military stores should be considered a public forum where government can rarely suppress speech based on its content, the appeal contended.

Justice Department lawyers said the government has the right to ``demonstrate its own values by declining to sell materials at its own stores'' that do not fit those values.

The appeals court properly deferred to Congress' authority over the military, government lawyers said, adding that a military store is not a public forum.

The case is General Media Communications vs. Cohen, 97-1535.