Court Cases
Featured Cases
Nov 25, 2025
Morais-Hechavarria v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
We filed a lawsuit challenging the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) 287(g) agreement with ICE. That agreement allows ICE to use local law enforcement to assist in carrying out its federal immigration enforcement agenda.
Aug 15, 2025
ACLU of Nevada v. Department of Motor Vehicles
We’re suing the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for violating Nevada’s public records laws by refusing to release records related to their communications with ICE.
Dec 09, 2025
ACLU of Nevada v. Clark County School District
In February, Durango High School students were attacked by CCSD police, and video of the incident was captured by a bystander. CCSD continues to stonewall the release of public records related to the incident. The ACLU of Nevada is representing two of the students attacked in the incident.
The ACLU of Nevada filed for a writ of mandamus in a Clark County court in order to force the Clark County School District to release records that the civil rights nonprofit is entitled to. A writ of mandamus is a legal action meant to compel a government actor to follow the law.
In February, Durango High School students were attacked by CCSD police for recording officers in the community. Video of the incident captured by a bystander has been shared widely throughout Nevada — including before the Legislature — but despite persistent requests from the news media and others, the school district continues to stonewall the release of public records related to the incident, such as body-worn camera footage and incident reports. Even the ACLU of Nevada, which is representing two teenagers who were attacked in the incident, has been denied the records.
In March, the ACLUNV announced it was giving the school district 30 days to comply with the law or the nonprofit would file legal action. CCSD has failed to produce the records for the teenagers’ attorneys.
UPDATE: On December 9, 2025, the Nevada Supreme Court held oral arguments. Decision is now pending.
All Cases
16 Court Cases
Feb 27, 2026
McAllister v. Clark County
We're challenging Clark County's pedestrian flow zone ordinance for its vague language that allows LVMPD to selectively enforce and, in effect, selectively target people. Our client uses a manual wheelchair, and under this ordinance, could be charged with a misdemeanor for stopping to take a break.
In January 2024, the Clark County Commission voted to establish pedestrian flow zones on the pedestrian bridges at the Las Vegas Strip and charge people with a misdemeanor for stopping or standing on these bridges.
Feb 05, 2026
Jacobo-Ramirez et al. v. Noem
We filed a class action lawsuit, in collaboration with the ACLU and the UNLV Immigration Clinic, against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), challenging a new federal policy that unlawfully denied immigrants their right to a bond hearing.
For decades, people who were living in the U.S. and later detained by immigration authorities were entitled to a bond hearing under federal law. The DHS has now reversed this precedent by reclassifying these longtime residents as “applicants for admission,” thereby stripping them of their right to ask a judge for release.
Now, under this new policy, anyone who entered the United States without inspection is detained while their immigration case moves forward without the opportunity for a bond hearing, also known as a custody redetermination hearing.
This is a direct attack on due process. People who have lived in Nevada for years are now being held for prolonged periods of time in civil detention facilities without knowing when, or if, they’ll ever see a judge.
Our class action seeks to reaffirm the right to a bond hearing for immigrants arrested inside of the United States and prevent them from being unlawfully detained without the possibility of release and in violation of their due process rights.
Dec 15, 2025
United States of America v. Aguilar
In conjunction with the national ACLU, we’ve filed a motion to intervene in this case to protect Nevada voters and ensure people can participate in our democracy freely, safely, and without fear.
Nov 25, 2025
ACLU of Nevada v Clark County School District
As Southern Nevada high school seniors headed toward graduation, many of the students were at risk of having their First Amendment rights violated under a Clark County School District policy adopted in March that added new restrictions on cap and gown decorations and banned objects and adornments that “constitute proselytizing speech.”
Our civil rights attorneys say that the policy has led to individual schools creating their own guidelines, which even contradict themselves. The complaint says, for example, that Canyon Springs High School and Del Sol Academy have communicated both that all cap decorations will be banned and that students can adorn their caps with decorations that have religious or cultural significance. Las Vegas High School is going even further and requiring students to submit pictures of decorations and accessories for advanced approval.
Nov 10, 2025
State v. Polovina
Jordan Polovina is a cellist and street performer who was cited by police for playing music on a pedestrian bridge on the Las Vegas Strip. While officers claimed Polovina violated a rule against stopping or standing in a pedestrian area, dozens of other people were standing in the same space before, during, and after the citation and were not cited.
Polovina was cited under a county ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor to (1) stop or stand within any Pedestrian Flow Zone, or (2) intentionally causing another person who is within a Pedestrian Flow Zone to stop or stand. A conviction can carry jail time for up to six months of a fine of up to $1,000.
We’re asking the court to dismiss the charge against Polovina because he was singled out for playing music, an activity protected by the First Amendment. Law enforcement targeted him for his expression, rather than enforcing the rule equally.
In addition to this case, the ACLU of Nevada represents Polovina in a related civil lawsuit challenging the same ordinance. The lawsuit, McAllister v. Clark County, argues that the ordinance violates First and Fourteenth Amendments and the right to due process.
Nov 04, 2025
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte v. Nevada (Amicus)
In yet another result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision, in July 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction against a 1985 Nevada law requiring parental notification for abortion procedures for minors. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, a 501(c)3 health care provider, quickly filed litigation to block the notification law from negatively affecting access to abortion care in Nevada.
ACLU and ACLU of Nevada argue in a new amicus brief that a lower court ruling used incorrect legal standards. The amicus brief also examines the procedures that are required under the 1985 law, including interviews and court hearings for young people seeking judicial bypass. Such processes differ from county to county, with some courts having no processes in place at all.
Sep 23, 2025
City of Sparks v. Bluth (Amicus)
In 2023, a Reno police officer pulled over a driver and took her cell phone, claiming he needed to verify her insurance coverage. Instead, he unlawfully accessed and copied intimate photographs of the driver without her knowledge or consent. Nine months later, Sparks police detectives came to her home, showed her the photos, and confirmed they were taken from her phone.
The driver, Bluth, sued to get access to public records about the investigation, but the lower court found that the investigative and privacy interests outweigh the public and personal interests, even without reviewing the records privately. The court only provided records related to her individual case.
We filed an amicus brief, alongside the Boyd School of Law’s Survivor Representation & Advocacy Clinic, supporting Bluth’s appeal. We’re asking the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s decision and make clear that the government can’t use victims’ rights as an excuse to avoid accountability.
Sep 15, 2025
Gerwaski v. State of Nevada
We are representing Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (SJP UNLV), a student group that protests Israel’s military actions in Palestine and exercises its First Amendment rights by organizing protests and advocating on social media, and has also urged UNLV administrators to stop supporting Palestinian people by not investing money in groups tied to Israel.
We stepped in after another UNLV student who disagreed with SJP UNLV’s views sued the group, along with several other defendants, under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and for intentional infliction of emotional distress, even though the student did not show how UNLV SJP assisted in terrorism or explain how they were harmed.
We filed a motion to dismiss, asking the court to dismiss the case because SJP UNLV’s advocacy is protected by the First Amendment, and the student failed to provide sufficient facts related to claims of infliction of emotional distress. We also filed a second motion under Nevada’s anti-SLAAP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws, which protects people and groups from lawsuits meant to silence speech on public issues.
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