This case calls upon the Court to consider whether a pedestrian walkway, located on private property parallel and adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip and connected at both ends to public sidewalks, is a public forum for First Amendment purposes.
The Venetian Casino Resort ("Venetian") is a large hotel and casino currently under construction at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue. A temporary pedestrian walkway that is soon to become a permanent sidewalk runs along the frontage of the Venetian property bordering the Las Vegas Strip. This walkway is the only thoroughfare for pedestrians walking on the east side of the Strip and connects to public sidewalks at the north and south ends of the Venetian property. On March 1, 1999, Defendants Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas, Culinary Workers Union, Local No. 226, and Bartenders Union, Local No. 165 (collectively "Unions") staged a demonstration rally including picketing on the temporary pedestrian walkway to protest the Venetian's employment practices. Although the Venetian requested that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrest the protestors for trespassing on private property, the Clark County District Attorney advised the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department ("LVMPD") not to do so under the sensible theory that because the pedestrian walkway looked and functioned like a public sidewalk, those peacefully protesting had a cognizable First Amendment defense to any charge of trespass.
The current dispute concerns whether the Unions, or others, have a right to exercise their First Amendment rights to free expression, subject to reasonable and content neutral time, place and manner restrictions, on the Venetian's pedestrian walkway to the same extent they could do so on a public sidewalk.