On January 11, a federal lawsuit was filed in Nevada against the state Democratic Party. The lawsuit attacks the party for having set up “at-large” precincts for its presidential caucus on Saturday, January 19, inside large Las Vegas casino-hotels. The party by-laws were recently amended to provide for such caucus locations in any establishment that has “at least 4,000 employees in a contiguous area working on Saturday morning, January 19.”

Since the caucus is paid for and organized by the Democratic Party, rather than the state, this will be another interesting test of the extent to which political parties can regulate their own nominations procedure. The Nevada election code does regulate caucuses, and the code does not provide for such extra voting places. Normally lawsuits alleging that a party is violating state law are filed in state courts, but when there is a time emergency and constitutional rights are involved, federal courts also have jurisdiction.

The case is Chesnut v Democratic Party of Nevada, 2:08-cv-46. Another plaintiff is the Nevada State Education Association (or “the state teachers union”). The lawsuit appears to have a political context. The casino workers are part of the Culinary Workers Union, which has endorsed Barack Obama. The Nevada State Education Association has not endorsed any presidential candidate. Many casino workers won’t be able to attend the Saturday caucuses if the “at-large precincts” are disallowed. Teachers, on the other hand, generally have free time on Saturdays. The specific hotel-casinos (all in Las Vegas) are the Bellagio, Luxor, Mirage, Rio, Caesar’s Palace, Paris, Flamingo, Wynn Las Vegas, and New York New York. Thanks to Ed Still’s votelawblog for this news.