Court Cases

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.

The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit challenging Nevada's ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion, which discriminates against women and people who can become pregnant based on their sex in violation of the protections voters added to the Nevada Constitution. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, Nevadans turned out to the polls to overwhelmingly adopt an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the state constitution, ensuring equality under the law regardless of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and more. The lawsuit brought by Silver State Hope Fund — a Nevada nonprofit that offers financial assistance to help people pay for abortion, as well as travel, lodging, and childcare to ensure they can access care — challenges the state’s Medicaid coverage ban as a violation of Nevada’s ERA. The majority of Silver State’s clients have incomes that qualify for Medicaid. Nevada’s Medicaid program, managed by the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy, has set a mission to ensure equal access to health care by providing quality medical care for low-income individuals and families who otherwise may not be able to afford health care. Despite that mission, the program specifically denies coverage for abortion, and so the majority of Silver State Hope Fund’s clients cannot get full coverage for their reproductive health care needs. The abortion coverage ban reinforces sex-based inequalities by denying only women and those who can become pregnant the ability to make decisions about their health care options and reproductive futures. There are no similar restrictions on care typically accessed by men. The lawsuit requests that the state court order the Nevada Division of Health Care Financing and Policy to remove the abortion coverage ban in Nevada’s Medicaid program.

The ACLU of Nevada is representing seven incarcerated firefighters who were badly burned while working as wildland firefighters as part of a program in which the Nevada Division of Forestry and the Nevada Department of Corrections press incarcerated people into dangerous service on behalf of the state. The case is Leavitt v. Nevada, Case No. A-23-867730-C, and it was filed in Clark County.

On Oct. 4, 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit against Nye County to prevent the county from moving forward with its proposed unlawful hand-counting scheme during this year’s elections. We are representing Nye County voters who risk having their freedom to vote suppressed by the county’s proposed procedures for this year’s election. The case is ACLU of Nevada v. Nye County, Case No. CV22-0503. We are asking the Fifth Judicial District court to prohibit the county from publicly announcing the selected candidates on each ballot prior to the close of polls on Election Day, from limiting the use of ADA touch screens to individuals with so-called “special needs,” from allowing election workers to ask about a voter’s disability or turn away otherwise eligible voters based on arbitrary decision making, and from using “stringent signature verifications” that violate state law.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit to protect the public’s right to access family court proceedings. Nearly half of the district courts in Clark County are family courts, but a recent rule in the Eighth Judicial District Court allows for closing court proceedings to the public without cause.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Foundation seeks to restore the ability of North Las Vegas residents to elect a municipal court judge of their choosing. On Feb. 17, the city of North Las Vegas adopted Ordinance No. 3060, creating a new municipal court department and appointing a judge, Christopher Lee, to a 6-year term without any election. The ordinance directly violates the North Las Vegas City Charter, approved by the Nevada Legislature, which mandates that when the city appoints a judge to fill a vacant position in the Municipal Court, “[n]o such appointment extends beyond the first day of the month following the next general municipal election, at which election the office must be filled for the remaining unexpired term.” The next elections to be held in the City of North Las Vegas are scheduled for June and November of 2022, 4 years and two full election cycles before the appointment described in Ordinance No. 3060 ends. In its writ, the ACLU of Nevada is asking the court to require the city to hold an election for Municipal Court Department 1 during the 2022 election cycle as required by the North Las Vegas City Charter.

This case arises out of a defamation lawsuit filed by Mr. Lazer, a white man, against Ms. Williams, a Black woman. Mr. Lazer represented Ms. Williams in a real estate transaction and, according to Ms. Williams, made statements that were racist and sexist during the course of the sale.

The ACLU of Nevada submitted a public records request on June 15th asking for various records relating to lethal injection drugs and the Department of Corrections’ execution protocol, but the Department has refused to release any information prior to this execution. The writ petition seeks to force NDOC to release these records.