On September 29, Judge Dawson ruled that anonymous internet commenters could not challenge the United States Attorney’s Office’s issuance of two subpoenas that sought to unmask the anonymous critics of the government. The case was dismissed as “moot”.

The ACLU of Nevada is disappointed by the ruling dismissing the case and is planning to appeal to the Ninth Circuit because of the importance of the underlying principles.

On Wednesday, the Reno City Council voted unanimously to approve extending health insurance benefits to the registered domestic partners of City employees. The ACLU of Nevada applauds the Council's vote and hopes that other cities in Nevada will do the same.

"The principal issue of human dignity, human relations, we simply don’t put a precise price tag on those things," said Lee Rowland, Northern Coordinator for the ACLU of Nevada. "Now, any couple can share their life together."

Burning Man has invited the ACLU of Nevada back to Black Rock City to act as legal observers. We are again teaming up with Lawyers for Burners to protect the rights of the citizens of and distribute “Know Your Rights” cards with information on constitutional rights and what individuals should do if they are stopped, questioned, or searched by the police.

On August 18, the ACLU of Nevada gained a victory in the case against government secrecy. Judge Dawson ruled in the ACLU of Nevada’s favor saying that the government’s filings in the subpoena case about the identity of anonymous online commenters should be available to the public - not kept secret.

The Secretary of State’s Office recently announced that couples wishing to register as domestic partners may pre-file their declaration starting August 24. The domestic partnership law will go into effect on October 1. Couples who pre-register will receive their domestic partnership certificate on October 1.

The ACLU of Nevada won another court victory in the thirteen-year battle over First Amendment protections at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas (ACLU of Nevada v. City of Las Vegas).

In addition to finding several municipal codes restricting speech activities at the Fremont Street Experience to be unconstitutional, the United States District Court of Nevada awarded the ACLU of Nevada $42,868.86 in attorneys’ fees - the full amount requested by its attorneys.

On July 7, 2009, the ACLU of Nevada made a formal request under Nevada’s Public Records laws for information about the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's implementation of the 287(g) program. The ACLU of Nevada is seeking, among other things, racial arrest statistics for the 6 months before and after Metro commenced its 287(g) program. The goal is to determine whether there has been any change in arrests for certain offenses or if there has been any change in the arrest of certain racial groups.

After years of concern about the conditions at the Nye County Detention Facility in Pahrump, (commonly referred to as the Pahrump jail) the Nye County Board of Commissioners has begun the process in earnest to build a bigger and better facility. The ACLU of Nevada applauds the Nye County Board of Commissioners for taking this important step to address the many potentially unconstitutional conditions at the current facility.

ACLU: ¡DEJE EL PROGRAMA 287G, METRO!
Contrato con ICE tiene “defectos fundamentales”

On July 22, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada sent a letter to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (“Metro”) expressing its disappointment about Metro’s participation in a federal program that authorizes local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws. Metro has been operating the program, known as a 287(g) agreement after the authorizing section of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, since October 2008.

The ACLU of Nevada has received numerous letters from inmates at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center (FMWCC) complaining about the medical treatment they have received while incarcerated. These complaints were alarming, and they prompted the ACLU of Nevada to send a letter on July 21 detailing our concerns about the treatment of inmates in FMWCC to Howard Skolnik, the director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, and Sheryl Foster, the warden of FMWCC.