The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against a Las Vegas city ordinance that makes feeding homeless people in city parks illegal. The suit claims the new law violates the rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, free assembly, due process of law and equal protection under the law.
ACLU public advocate Lee Rowland calls the law - "immoral" and "embarrassing for the city."
Las Vegas is one of the first in the nation to explicitly bar feeding the poor and City Attorney Brad Jerbic said the city will defend the law in court.
The complaint was filed on behalf of five local activists and the Las Vegas chapter of the advocacy group Food Not Bombs, a national organization that describes its objective as "sharing free vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty."
On Monday, a radio disc jockey was the first person to receive a summons under the new law, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 and six months in jail. Six other people were issued summonses and three people were arrested.
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