Free speech on the Strip

Sidewalks on the Strip are public forums. But some casinos don't like to see union pickets, street performers or distributors of sex industry handbills in front of their properties.

The latest attempt by business and law enforcement to control free expression on the Strip is dangerously absurd.

According to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, two men were seized from the sidewalk in front of The Venetian by hotel security guards on Jan. 15, then detained until they could be handcuffed and searched by Las Vegas police.

All because Jason Perez-Morciglio was wearing a Zorro costume. His brother, Sebastian Perez-Morciglio, sometimes joins him dressed as Darth Vader, but on this occasion he wasn't in costume. The men entertain passers-by for tips, and on this day they were merely standing around, according to the lawsuit.

After being held for more than an hour, searched and photographed, they were escorted to a parking lot at the rear of the hotel and warned not to "trespass" on the sidewalk again, or else face arrest.

"Both the United States District Court and the (9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) have explicitly stated that the sidewalk in front of The Venetian is a public forum," said attorney Allen Lichtenstein of the ACLU of Nevada. "Unfortunately, the hotel doesn't appear to feel bound by the courts' decision."

It's bad enough when casinos, with the help of police, detain gamblers who use legal means to obtain an advantage over the house. But to kidnap citizens from the sidewalk because they dress and act funny? That's scary stuff.

Las Vegas can't afford to create even a single anecdote that portrays the Strip as a place where the First Amendment is on permanent vacation.

Hotels and police need to get the message: Free expression is not a crime.