Tag Archives: State: Nevada

he Alliance Defense Fund and its allied attorneys sent letters Friday to local governments in Nevada and Indiana encouraging them not to give in to baseless threats that Christmas expression is somehow a violation of the First Amendment. The letters instead explain that stifling Christmas expression is what truly violates First Amendment protected rights.

Mesquite Local News: “Representatives from the ACLU met with school officials in May of this year after complaints were filed with the group over charges of ‘proselytizing’ or promoting religion at the school. As a result of that meeting, the school has clamped down on teachers or staff members saying ‘Merry Christmas’ or other statements that could be deemed as religious in nature.”

Washington Examiner Editorial: “[A]n internal e-mail from a Reid campaign operative to a Harrah’s executive strongly suggests the Reid ground game depended at least in part on breaking the law . . . ”

Sylvia R. Lazos, Justice Myron Leavitt professor at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law, and Chris W. Bonneau, professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh, writing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Nevadans are voting on whether to amend their constitution to provide for the appointment of Supreme Court justices and District Court judges. Here are the reasons why Nevadans should vote no on Question 1 . . . the system that is being proposed — initial appointment by the governor based on a recommendation from a commission — will result in a less open system run by elites who are closely connected to those in power.”

Politico: “O’Connor did not indicate what she did to authorize the group to do with her recording. The group did not identify who gave it permission to use O’Connor’s voice or what convinced them that it was OK to do so in automated phone calls. The group, which is backing a ballot measure to do away with judicial elections in Arizona, has blamed a programming glitch for the late-night calls and said no more robocalls are planned . . . Whelan, a longtime critic of O’Connor, has not been dissuaded [from his opinion that O'Connor's involvement runs afoul of ethics rules].”

Renew America: “Democrats in Nevada have been accused of using strong-arm tactics best symbolized in recent years by the likes of ACORN and SEIU, so as to steal the election for Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid. The ‘funny business’ started when voters in Boulder City (near Las Vegas) showed up to cast their (early voting) ballot for Reid’s Republican opponent, Sharron Angle. Within five minutes, they reported that Senator Reid’s name had already been checked.”

The Blog of LegalTimes: “But [Jeffrey Shaman, a judicial ethics expert and professor at DePaul University College of Law], along with another top judicial ethics expert, New York University’s Stephen Gillers, don’t see anything ethically wrong with what O’Connor has done in the first place in relation to the Nevada initiative. ‘She has a special expertise about these matters, and I don’t see anything wrong with her speaking out about a matter of public concern like this,’ said Shaman, who asserts that O’Connor’s advocacy falls in the category of speech about the administration of justice that the canons permit.”

Ed Whelan writing at National Review Online / Bench Memos: “Do the ethics rules governing federal judges really permit a federal judge to robocall voters in support of a ballot initiative? That question is raised by the apparent decision by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor—who has retired from the Supreme Court but who, rightly or wrongly, maintains that she now has senior status and can still sit on lower-court cases—to authorize use of her voice on robocall messages to Nevada voters in support of Question 1 (which would alter the state’s method of selecting its judges).”

Fox5Vegas.com: “Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid’s name was already checked.”

Center for American Progress: “The Family Equality Council finds that only six states have laws or policies that expressly prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian adoptions (California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York). The Florida appeals court’s ruling now decreases the number of states that expressly restrict adoption by same-sex couples to three—Michigan, Mississippi, and Nebraska . . . Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) recently introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act . . . ”

Associated Press: “U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a ‘militant terrorist situation’ that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities.”

Associated Press: “The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that U.S. Senate candidate Scott Ashjian’s name should stay on the November election ballot despite challenges to his qualifications.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal: “A majority of Nevadans say they believe it is time to revive a proposed constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget, according to a new poll. And in a measure of how residents feel about Uncle Sam these days, a majority either support or would not rule out letting states repeal federal laws if two-thirds of the legislatures agree.”

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “An unusually large contingent of female Republican candidates with strong anti-abortion views is heating up debate on the issue and could change the political equation in the next Congress.”

The Reno Gazette-Journal: “Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor continued her push Wednesday to change the way Nevada selects its district judges and Supreme Court justices. O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, is backing Ballot Question 1, which would end Nevada’s system of electing judges and replace it with a system where judges would first be appointed by the governor after a review by a judicial committee.”

Sify: “Nevada Religious Freedom and Unity Day event in Reno (Nevada, USA) on September 19 had Hindu invocation. After event coordinator Reverend Neal T. Anderson, Minister of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada, launched the event at City Plaza, Hindu leader Rajan Zed read from ancient Hindu scriptures Rig-Veda and Upanishads.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal: “The construction sector, restaurants and professional firms all added jobs in the month, but declines in Census jobs and other public-sector cuts offset that hiring to push statewide unemployment to an all-time high of 14.4 percent, the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation said this morning. That’s up from 14.3 percent in July and 12.5 percent in August 2009.”

Associated Press: “An administration official said Tuesday seven states suing the federal government are among 16 already approved for subsidies to help with the health care costs of early retirees. The seven are Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Nevada. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Tuesday’s official announcement.”

Las Vegas Sun: “Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto finds herself potentially stuck between the governing documents on the issue of gay marriage. And those on both sides of the volatile debate say she should wade into the legal fight in their favor.”

Rasmussen: “The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state shows Democratic Senator Harry Reid and his Republican challenger Sharron Angle tied with 47% of the vote each. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.”

Reuters: “The U.S. Senate’s senior Democrat broke with President Barack Obama on Monday over the proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque in New York City, with Senator Harry Reid saying it should be built elsewhere.”

Associated Press: “Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle says her campaign is ‘a war’ with Democrats in Washington who are trying to ‘make government our God.’”

Associated Press: “Tax revenue figures for the 2009 fiscal year collected by The Morning Call of Allentown show Pennsylvania took in nearly $1.1 billion from its nine casinos. That outpaces the $878 million collected by Indiana and the $831 million by Nevada.”

Las Vegas Sun: “Citing a lack of support for the U.S. military and ‘demonstrated hostility’ toward gun rights, Sen. John Ensign said Friday he will vote against the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

LifeNews: “The national pro-life women’s group Susan B. Anthony List issued a round of endorsements today for pro-life candidates in Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Nevada. SBA List backed two women and two men who face opposition from pro-abortion women in their races for Congress.”

Las Vegas Sun: “Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle describes her motivation for seeking elected office as a religious calling. … [A]lthough many Americans view the separation of church and state as one of the keys to the nation’s success as a multicultural society, Angle believes that religion has an expansive role to play in government. And, she has repeatedly said anyone who opposes that based on the claim of separation of church and state misunderstands the Constitution’s ban on ‘establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’”

AP: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has banked $19.2 million for his re-election campaign but will need to speed up his fundraising to reach his goal of hitting $25 million for the Nevada race.”

Central Chronicle: “City Council of Boulder City (Nevada, USA), known as ‘Home of Hoover Dam’, opened with Hindu prayers reportedly for the first time on June 22 evening.”

Mercury News: “A Muslim advocacy group representative accused the FBI on Monday of wrongly questioning five Muslim men in the Los Angeles area about praying in a shopping center parking lot in southern Nevada six months ago.”

Reno Gazette-Journal: “Nevada’s teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the United States, and Lyon County’s is among the highest in Nevada. . . . the Lyon County School Trustees voted on June 8 meeting to form a new committee to re-evaluate the district’s sex education program. . . . The LCSD requires students to have active permission from their parents each year in order to take sex education courses. The District’s current sex education program is an abstinence-only program called ‘Worth the Wait.’”

Personhood Nevada, through many legal battles, has been denied the right to circulate their prolife petition in the state. The ACLU joined forces with Planned Parenthood, tying the petition up in court and disallowing the many ready and willing Nevada volunteers their right to circulate the petition.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: “A national leader of the Personhood-USA movement said Thursday the group won’t be able to collect the required number of signatures by Tuesday’s deadline. The proposed constitutional amendment would halt abortions in Nevada.” | Ballotpedia: Nevada Personhood Amendment (2012)

LifeNews: “Tuesday’s primary elections saw the political landscape in a few states move in the direction of pro-life women and one pro-life organization is delighted by the results. With Carly Fiorina’s Senate victory in California and Sharron Angle’s in Nevada, pro-life women are now on center stage.”

AP: “Nevada Republicans Tuesday picked tea party insurgent Sharron Angle to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . . . ”

LifeNews: “Another pro-life group has climbed on board with the other pro-life organizations supporting Sue Lowden, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge pro-abortion Senate Leader Harry Reid in Nevada . . . ”

8NewsNow.com: “David Cooper is an admitted swinger. For three months, he ran Sextasy until the county shut him down. In June 2008, a letter from the county informed Cooper his license applications were denied. He appealed to the Clark County Commission, but lost. Now, Cooper is suing Clark County and seven commissioners. He says other well-known sex clubs haven’t been bothered by the county . . . Cooper believes his lawsuit will expose dirty dealings. ‘People are getting paid off,’ he said. ‘We know they’re breaking the law, and we’re going to prove it in federal court.’”

CNSNews: “Gov. Jim Gibbons says Nevada has officially joined at least 18 other states in a lawsuit challenging the federal health reform law . . . ”

AP: “Some Nevada conservatives want Republican Sen. John Ensign to resign amid a federal investigation stemming from an extramarital affair, with one critic calling him ‘the political equivalent of a suicide bomber.’”

Cleveland Plain Dealer: “A group of anti-abortion activists has unrolled a new strategy: Stretch the legal definition of “person” in state constitutions to cover a freshly fertilized egg in a woman’s womb. ‘We are defining the word ‘person’ as a human being … regardless of age, level of functioning, perceived ability or disability,’ said Cal Zastrow, co-founder of Personhood USA, which formed in 2008. ‘When there is an innocent person, the law should protect them.’”

AP: “Nevada Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of overruling a lower court decision on a ballot initiative that would reshape state abortion law.”

RGJ.com: “‘This health care nationalization plan is illegal because it is unconstitutional,’ Gibbons said. ‘The arrogance of this administration to force all Nevadans to purchase something (health insurance from private companies) or face IRS penalties is outrageous and wrong.’”

Las Vegas Sun: “Las Vegas adult club figure Michael Powers sued Clark County on Monday in a challenge to the constitutionality of an ordinance regulating sex clubs and defining them as ‘public nuisances.’”

LifeNews: “Backers of the personhood amendment in Nevada are appealing in front of the Nevada Supreme Court today to make their case for the measure that could ban abortions . . . ”

Las Vegas Sun: “In their new book, The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland, UNLV academics Barbara Brents, Crystal Jackson and Kathryn Hausbeck examine Nevada’s brothel industry through the lens of history, economy and sociology, drawing their conclusions from a decade of research. It’s a high-toned academic discussion of legal prostitution — a book about sex that doesn’t use the subject to sell itself. Brents, a UNLV sociology professor, sat down with the ‘Las Vegas Weekly’ to talk about the state of sex . . . ”

KTNV.com: “Governor Gibbons is threatening to side-step Nevada’s attorney general if she fails to act on his request to sue the federal government over health care reform.”

Las Vegas Sun: “The language in an initiative petition that seeks to ban abortions in Nevada is so vague that voters would never understand the consequences, the American Civil Liberties Union says . . . A group called Personhood Nevada wants to add the following to the Nevada Constitution: ‘In the great state of Nevada, the term ‘person’ applies to every human being.’” | Ballotpedia: Nevada Personhood Amendment (2010)

RGJ.com: “Republican Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons is ‘directing’ Democratic Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to join 14 other states in suing the federal government over health reform.”

Mercury News: “While both states prohibit same-sex marriage, officials in California said the two qualified for the license because Severson’s birth certificate lists her as a man. But officials in Nevada nixed the request, saying they consider Severson a woman because that’s what her driver’s license says.”

“A federal appeals court has ruled that Nevada has the right to ban certain advertisements of legal brothels, saying it doesn’t violate the First Amendment of free speech . . . ”

Leagle: “The Nevada Supreme Court has agreed to expedite an appeal from a group seeking to override state abortion statutes . . . The Supreme Court granted the request on Thursday and ordered initiative backers and its opponents to file all briefs by April 2. No extensions will be granted . . .”

OneIndia: “Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, delivered invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Carson City Board of Supervisors on February 18. After Sanskrit delivery, he then read the English translation of the prayer.”

LifeNews: “Backers of a personhood-abortion ballot measure in Nevada that would define unborn children as a person beginning at conception, or fertilization have appealed a judge’s decision.”

Northern Voices Online: “City Council of Sparks, one of the fastest growing cities of Nevada (USA), started day’s business with Sanskrit shlokas from ancient Hindu scriptures on Monday.”

The Hill:
“Republicans in Arkansas and Nevada are telling the national GOP to stay out of their races as a pair of well-known politicians show renewed interest in running for the Senate. In both states, a field of candidates had already been going at it for months . . . ”

“A state judge in Carson City, Nev., threw out a proposed ballot initiative Friday that . . . saying the language was too vague and violated state law that limits questions to one subject.”

Personhood USA: “The ACLU has joined forces with abortion giant Planned Parenthood to stop the initiative process of Nevada citizens. The simple, one sentence amendment reads: ‘In the great state of Nevada, the term ‘person’ applies to every human being.’ The hearing on this matter, in the First Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, will take place at 9 a.m. Friday morning, January 8, 2010 in Carson City, the state’s capitol.”

Las Vegas Sun: “A petition to change state law to allow adults to use marijuana legally has been filed and law enforcement officials are already geared up to fight the proposal . . . ”

LA Times: “A county board’s vote Tuesday affirming that Davis could offer ‘shady men’ to her clientele followed months of rancorous debate among the state’s legal brothel community . . . “It seems the biggest hoopla is a great fear in some people’s minds that some kind of homosexual activity might go on,” she said.”

Nevada Appeal: “Ron Parraguirre will assume the position of chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court in 2010.”

AP: “The owner of a brothel more than two hours’ drive from Las Vegas said she hopes to hire Nevada’s first legal male prostitutes within a month, now that state health officials have approved a method to test men for infectious diseases.”

KTNV: “A state judge in Carson City has scheduled a Jan. 8 hearing for arguments challenging the description of a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to define a person and override Nevada’s abortion laws.”

Times-Picayune: “Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will host a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in New Orleans next month, an event that comes on the heels of Reid’s assistance getting Louisiana a windfall of Medicaid money in the health care reform bill.”

WorldNetDailya: “More topically, the activist group Alliance Defense Fund is agitating for a 14th murder charge against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Islamist terrorist who “allegedly” killed 13 people during the shooting at Fort Hood that left 30 other people wounded. One of Hasan’s victims was a pregnant woman; the ADF wants Hasan held culpable for that unborn child’s death . . . There is a common thread to all of these news stories . . . all discussion of abortion revolves around the implication, the begged question and conclusion, that an unborn baby is a baby.”

Las Vegas Review Journal: “The leader of a Nevada organization that wants to outlaw abortion acknowledged Monday that passage of its Personhood amendment would prohibit women from using pills that induce abortion.”

Mercury News (AP): “Leaders of Nevada Life and Nevada Eagle Forum on Tuesday said while the Nevada Personhood initiative may have been filed with good intent, it is vague and won’t stop abortion because of existing federal law.”

ACLU: “An individual woman, a pharmacist and an obstetrician-gynecologist today asked the court to block the “Personhood Nevada” petition, an attempt to pass an initiative which seeks to ban a range of reproductive health services.”

Personhood USA: “Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit against the sponsors of a Nevada ballot initiative defining the term ‘person’.”

Courthouse News Service: “A group of parents seek to stop a high school in the Las Vegas suburb or Henderson from mounting two plays, ‘Rent’ and ‘The Laramie Project,’ because the productions about gay characters are ‘not suitable for students.’”

LifeSiteNews: The proposed amendment would change the Nevada constitution to read: “In the great state of Nevada, the term ‘person’ applies to every human being. Article I Section 8 of the Nevada constitution states, ‘No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.’”

Las Vegas Review-Journal: “A longtime conservative activist announced Wednesday he is launching a petition drive to overturn the state’s abortion rights law and prevent government from trying to end the lives of elderly people.”

AP: “Nevada’s secretary of state issued domestic partnership certificate No. 1 at the state Capitol on Thursday as a state law providing many of the same legal rights as marriage to gay and straight partners went into effect.”

Las Vegas Sun: “There were documented cases of underage drinking, drug use and people having sex in public. Although some view the misbehavior as an average night of fun and the personification of ‘what happens here, stays here,’ gaming regulators didn’t see things that way . . . Sayre said Control Board members aren’t imposing their moral standards on the industry. They are enforcing laws that already are on the books, whether they are liquor laws, public decency statutes or underage drinking.”

ADF attorney Steven Aden appeared on the Jody Hice Show to discuss “Personhood” Amendments.

The MP3 runs just over 17 minutes.

Related ADF Alliance Alert posts

MSNBC (AP): “[Personhood] Amendment language has been cleared, with petition drives under way, in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana and Nevada. Amendment language will be filed later this month in California and Florida.”

MSNBC (AP): “[Personhood] Amendment language has been cleared, with petition drives under way, in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana and Nevada. Amendment language will be filed later this month in California and Florida.”

Mercury News (AP): “Monday marked the first day Nevada couples could begin registering as domestic partners in advance of a new law that takes effect in October.”