----- Original Message ----- From: "radman" <resist at best.com>
Friday, July 13, 2001
Federal appeals court says protesters can use casino sidewalk
<http://news.findlaw.com/ap/l/0000/7-13-2001/20010713141949720.html>
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ A federal appeals court ruling that protestors have the right to use a privately owned sidewalk in front of a Las Vegas Strip resort has First Amendment implications statewide, a civil rights group says. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a Las Vegas U.S. District Court judge's decision granting unions access to the sidewalks in front of the Venetian resort. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada litigated the case. "We regard this as a very big victory, probably one of the biggest the ACLU of Nevada has won in the courts," said Nevada ACLU President Richard Siegel of Reno. "It was a solid affirmation of free expression rights and a broad interpretation of the concept of public access." Venetian Communications Director Kurt Ouchida said the casino has not reviewed the ruling and cannot say if it will ask for another hearing in the 9th Circuit or possibly appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Tom Stoneburner, director of the northern Nevada chapter of the Alliance for Workers Rights, called the case a major civil rights issue. "It's a matter of being able to express yourself on the sidewalks along with everybody else," he said. "If a casino wants to buy the sidewalk, do they also buy the right to stifle our right to protest?" In March 1999, the Venetian sued Clark County and two unions seeking a court decision that a new sidewalk it built on the Las Vegas strip was private property, even though it was open to the public. The hotel contended it could keep union protesters off the sidewalk. A federal judge sided with the county and the unions and both sides argued the case in Reno last July before three appellate judges. The 2-1 ruling issued Thursday says the federal judge made the right decision. The opinion was formally published, meaning it set precedent for all 10 states in the 9th Circuit. "Legitimate protest will be a little bit easier for people who want to exercise their Constitutional right," said Andy Barbano, editor of NevadaLabor.com. "It will be far less dangerous for people who in the past have been forced by powerful corporations into the street.