Court Cases

In May 2024, Laura Griffin, a Muslim woman, was forcibly removed from her home by LVMPD during an eviction. While being arrested, Ms. Griffin explained she is Muslim and repeatedly asked for and was denied her religious head covering. During the course of her arrest, transport, and booking, Ms. Griffin requested her head covering over three dozen times. Officers not only ignored her requests but also actively denied her access to her head covering, even when it was brought to the police station by her son. The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit against LVMPD for violating Ms. Griffin’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. In addition to providing damages for the harm caused to Ms. Griffin, the LVMPD adopted policies and provided training to ensure that people who are arrested are afforded religious accommodations and that such mistreatment does not happen again.  

Citizen Outreach Foundation seeks to remove over 19,000 registered voters from the Clark County voter rolls ahead of the November 2024 presidential election. The removals are based on National Change of Address (NCOA) data, which they claim shows these individuals are no longer residing at their registered addresses. The ACLU of Nevada (ACLUNV) has filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing that removing voters based solely on NCOA data violates both federal and state laws, which prevent systemic voter roll maintenance within 90 days of an election. The ACLU also argues that these challenges do not meet the requirements under Nevada law. At least fourteen ACLU members are among the voters being challenged. If the requested relief is granted, thousands of eligible voters could be wrongfully purged from the voter rolls, impairing their right to vote by mail or altogether disenfranchising them just weeks before the election. The organization further asserts that such a decision would set a dangerous precedent, leading to mass, arbitrary voter challenges. ACLUNV seeks to ensure that the voter roll maintenance laws are followed, safeguarding the right to vote for all eligible voters in Clark County.

The ACLU of Nevada has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Citizen Outreach Foundation. The lawsuit seeks to remove over 19,000 registered voters from the voter rolls in Clark County, seven of whom are ACLUNV members. The challenge is based on the use of the National Change of Address (NCOA) database, which the petitioners claim indicates that these voters no longer reside at their registered addresses. The ACLU of Nevada argues that this method of challenging voter eligibility is unlawful under both state and federal law, particularly because such voter roll purges cannot be conducted within 90 days of an election. Furthermore, the organization argues that removing voters solely based on NCOA data without personal knowledge of their residency violates Nevada’s legal standards. The ACLU is intervening to protect their right to vote and prevent unlawful disenfranchisement just weeks before the November 2024 presidential election.

The ACLU of Nevada and Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice filed an amicus brief in Song Spencer & James Spencer v. City of Henderson, urging the Nevada Supreme Court to allow people to recover attorney’s fees as special damages in successful challenges in civil asset forfeiture cases when the government wrongfully seizes their property. Our amicus brief argues that Nevada law already allows recovery of attorney’s fees in cases when warranted, even when there is no law directly on point, and that principle should apply here, when someone is forced to sue the government to get their own property back. This case is a challenge to the constitutionality of civil forfeiture laws.

During the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary, a nonpartisan observer who is also an ACLU of Nevada staff member was denied access to observe the election process by the Nye County Clerk's Office. The county implemented a policy that limited only one election observer per political affiliation, even when there was space available, violating Nevada law and the Nevada Constitution, which protects individuals’ right to observe voting, handling, and processing ballots. The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit against Nye County for violating these rights by prohibiting them from observing the voting process. Our Nevada Constitution protects the right to access to information and access to observe government activities, ensuring there is transparency in our democratic processes. This case seeks to affirm the rights of Nevadans to uphold election transparency and prevent viewpoint discrimination in our democracy.

Despite the passage of the Nevada Medical Marijuana Act and the Initiative to Regulate and Tax Marijuana, the State, specifically the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, has failed to take action to comport with the will of Nevada voters, the Nevada Constitution, and Nevada Revised Statutes.

ACLU of Nevada, alongside the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), filed an amicus brief asking the court to dismiss a case challenging Nevada's efforts to maintain its voter rolls. The case, Republican National Committee v. Aguilar, was filed against Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar by The Republican National Committee, the Nevada Republican Party, and a Nevada voter, claiming the state must be violating its obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) because certain misleading metrics show more registered voters than eligible voters in some counties. The amicus brief explains that the lawsuit is based on deeply flawed and misleading metrics that have been pieced together by unreliable and inaccurate measures of voter registration rates and that have been repeatedly rebuked by federal courts. The voter registration numbers they rely on are taken from a single recent snapshot of the state's voter roll but use an outdated census of the citizen voting age population for comparison. Unfortunately, this lawsuit is just one of several cases recently filed across the country with claims under the NVRA and is part of a years-long pattern to bully states into administering voter roll purges beyond what the law requires. Without proper guardrails, when states rush to purge voters, eligible voters, in many cases, are kicked off the rolls and disenfranchised. These lawsuits are based on false information and only erodes the public's trust and integrity in our elections.

In Nevada, people who are detained in a city or county jail are being held pre-trial or are serving a misdemeanor sentence and, therefore, have not lost their right to vote. Despite never losing this right, eligible voters detained in Nevada jails have continuously been denied meaningful access to the ballot box. Recognizing the unique constraints and widespread disenfranchisement of voters taking place in Nevada jails, the 2023 Nevada Legislature passed Assembly Bill 286, mandating that jail administrators work with the city or county clerk to implement policies and procedures that would ensure eligible voters detained in these facilities can register to vote and cast their ballot in an election. Since the bill took effect January 1, the ACLU of Nevada has been monitoring the implementation of the policies and procedures outlined in AB286, which should have been in place for the Presidential Preference Primary; however, public records requests revealed that Elko County Jail had not implemented such policies and continues not to be compliant. ACLUNV attorneys sent a demand letter to the jail, urging them to be compliant with the law or legal action would take place. The jail continues not to be compliant. Without the implementation of these policies and procedures as outlined in the bill, eligible voters detained in Elko County Jail will continue to be disenfranchised and have their voices silenced ahead of a critical election year.

Our client is a prisoner at Florence McClure Women's Correctional Facility in Southern Nevada. She was sexually abused by a prison chaplain, Donald Burse, on two separate occasions in August 2020. While Burse was fired after the abuse came to light, and there is a pending criminal case, we are taking on this case because we believe that the Nevada Department of Corrections has not done enough to make sure that such abuse will not happen again in the future.