ACLU claims victory in sidewalk dispute

Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 | 10:54 a.m.

A federal appellate court ruling favors those who want to use private sidewalks along the Las Vegas Strip as public forums, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney said.

ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein of Las Vegas is basing the claim on Thursday's federal appellate court ruling involving the right of the Culinary Union Local 226 to picket along the private sidewalks in front of the Venetian.

By a 2-1 vote Thursday, a panel of justices on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the Venetian's appeal to have the case heard by an 11-member panel of the appellate court.

That leaves standing the appeal court's decision of last month that gave the union permission to picket on Venetian's sidewalks, because they are part of the public thoroughfare along the Strip.

The resort argued that because the sidewalk is on private property, the union could not picket without permission.

The ACLU joined the union in the lawsuit against the resort.

"The ruling was pretty clear, and I was not surprised at all," Lichtenstein said. "Regardless of whether a sidewalk is titled to a public or private entity, if it is dedicated for public use, then it is a public forum."

Andy Abboud, director of government affairs for the Venetian, said he could not comment on the latest ruling or whether the resort would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The appellate court ruling extends not only to the union, but also to individuals such as adult entertainment advertisers and homeless advocates, who also have distributed literature on the Strip, Lichtenstein said.

"We have not argued that internal sidewalks going to the Venetian are a public forum," he said. "They certainly are not. The union had a particular interest in the matter. We felt that somebody needed to be there in this case to make sure the public right was cared for, too."

When Clark County authorized the widening of the Strip, it allowed the Venetian, which opened in 1999, to own the new sidewalk in front of its property. That agreement was conditional on the resort keeping the sidewalk open to allow pedestrians to walk along the Strip corridor.

The Culinary Union, even before the resort opened, began picketing in front of the Venetian to protest what it considers to be resort owner Sheldon Adelson's anti-union positions. The Venetian went to court to stop the pickets, arguing that the sidewalks were private property.

The union continues to conduct informational pickets in front of the resort four days a week, usually involving about 10 picketers at a time.

"It's a tremendous victory that the court has once again upheld our free speech rights on the sidewalks," Glen Arnodo, Culinary's political director, said. "I hope Mr. Adelson understands that the Constitution of the United States applies to him, as well. We have a right to be on that sidewalk."