ACLU Sues Fremont St. for Age Restrictions, Citing 1st Amendment Violation

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLU) is suing the City of Las Vegas and the Fremont Street Experience (FSE) on behalf of a Las Vegas street performer and two 18-year-olds. It claims that age restrictions to enter the tourist attraction, in place since July 12 on weekend nights, violate the First Amendment.

Since the city approved a special permit allowing the FSE to impose restrictions, no one younger than 21 has been able to enter the popular downtown pedestrian mall without a parent or guardian after 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. In addition, street performers are banned during those times. The special permit is good until Nov. 28.

The lawsuit also attacks Chapter 11.68 of the Las Vegas Municipal Code, enacted in 1995, which authorizes the FSE to change the locations where people can perform, shut down the entire pedestrian mall to the general public, and sue those they say violated the regulations. The plaintiffs argue that over-regulation of street performers favors commercial speech over artistic and political speech, violating the First Amendment.

Final Aired Grievance a Doozy

Finally, the lawsuit argues that the reason provided by the FSE for its unconstitutional special permit was fraudulent. The application approved by the city actually read “Festivus.”

The plaintiffs seek an order voiding portions of the LVMC Chapter 11.68 and all actions taken by the city and FSE for violating the First Amendment. They also seek costs and attorney’s fees.

Real Reason for Restrictions

It wasn’t Festivus, but an uptick in violent crime in the area that led the FSE and Las Vegas to impose their restrictions.

On June 19, 2022, a 16-year-old boy allegedly fatally shot one man and wounded another person under the electronic canopy. Then, on July 4, four days before the security measures were enacted, another man was shot in the buttocks. Last Aug. 4, a 30-year-old man was killed during what began as a fight between two men near an entertainment stage at Fremont and 3rd streets.

Police data confirms that violent crime at the attraction and on nearby streets rose before the measures were enacted. Some 45 aggravated assaults were reported by early July 2022, compared with only 27 the year before.

Public or Private?

The new lawsuit comes down to whether the FSE can be considered a public or private area. Though the FSE has not publicly commented on the new lawsuit, it has repeatedly said in the past that its space is a private mall, not a public forum.

However, in a landmark 2003 case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

“It may not look like a public street because of how the city and Fremont Street Experience treat it, but it’s a public street,” Christopher Peterson, the legal director of the ACLU of Nevada, told KSNV-TV last month. “And because it’s a public street, it’s where our First Amendment rights are strongest.”