Federal judge rejects Fremont Street Experience restrictions

Free speech advocates extended their winning streak this week in what has become an epic legal battle over advertising and solicitation activities at the Fremont Street Experience.

The latest victory in the 12-year-old case came at the hands of U.S. District Judge David Ezra of Honolulu, who shot down several Las Vegas ordinances that were revised in 2006. The City Council had revised the ordinances in response to a prior court order.

Ezra ruled that the new laws, which were designed to stop the types of aggressive behavior that have discouraged tourists and other consumers from patronizing the pedestrian mall, violated the First Amendment.

“These ordinances clearly include the sale of merchandise that carries political or religious messages or the use of tables for religious, political, or charitable solicitation, which are fully protected speech,” the federal judge wrote.

Ezra’s ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in 1997 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and other organizations. The Sin City Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 100 adult-oriented businesses, later joined the plaintiffs.

Over the years the case has made three trips to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It also briefly visited the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to get involved.

“Hopefully the city, after having these numerous decisions against them from the federal district court and the Court of Appeals, will cease to enact unconstitutional ordinances violating the free speech rights of people at the Fremont Street Experience,” ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein said.

Neither Deputy City Attorney James Erbeck, who worked on the case, nor City Attorney Brad Jerbic could be reached for comment Thursday. Fremont Street Experience attorney Todd Bice also could not be reached.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said he had heard about the decision but did not want to comment until he had time to read the 46-page document. Goodman called Ezra an “old friend” and said, “I hope he didn’t hurt the city.”

The ACLU has waged and won a similar battle against Clark County officials. In 2007, Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George declared the county’s anti-handbill ordinance unconstitutional following a decade of litigation.

Commissioners had passed the measure, which went unenforced during much of the court fight, as a way to rid the Strip of pushy peddlers promoting adult-oriented businesses.

Lichtenstein said the legal issue has importance to free speech advocates because “streets and sidewalks are the quintessential public forum.”

“While corporations and people of means may have access to billboards, hot-air balloons and television to communicate what they have to say, the streets, sidewalks and parks are still the best and most reasonable means for ordinary people to get their message out,” he said.

Lichtenstein said Ezra’s ruling means visitors to downtown Las Vegas can expect to see more “First Amendment activity that is not controlled by the Fremont Street Experience Limited Liability Company,” a private entity that contracts with the city to run the pedestrian mall.

One of the new ordinances prohibited unauthorized vending at the Fremont Street Experience, and another prohibited unauthorized structures, including chairs and stands used for solicitation.

City officials argued that the laws were needed to preclude solicitors from competing with the kiosks and other businesses that pay licensing fees for the privilege of doing business in the mall.

Plaintiffs in the case included Las Vegas resident Richard DeVoe, a social activist who set up a table at the mall in January 2007 before mall security guards informed him it was barred by a city ordinance, and the Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.