The Nevada Supreme Court is considering language a teachers union-backed PAC needs to include in a potential ballot referendum that could overturn the public financing deal for a Las Vegas baseball stadium that would house the relocated Oakland A's.

The spotlight’s on Nevada as residents prepare to vote in races for president, U.S. Senate, and 52 legislative seats that will determine the governor’s veto power.

Chief Justice Elissa Cadish asked whether a janitor at a university would constitute someone with executive power, and justices noted the difference between such a role and a lawmaker who serves as a prosecutor enforcing the laws they play a role in setting.

Three of the Nevada Supreme Court’s seven members are up for re-election this year, though all are running unopposed, essentially guaranteeing they will return to the court for six-year terms.

A lawsuit over the 2021 Nevada law that targeted one of the nation’s largest ghost gun kit and part manufacturers is finally nearing a legal conclusion.

The discussion item, listed on the board's agenda, comes after attempts to abolish the death penalty through the legislative process in 2021 failed. At the time, Sisolak announced there was “no path forward.”

When Justice Elissa Cadish asked Liakopoulos if he took responsibility for the actions that lead to his conviction, he said he felt pressured into making a promise to vote for the tax increase, but that “I should have been truthful with the lady, regardless of the circumstances.” 

On Wednesday, attorneys representing Helton and Nevada Voters First, the group backing the so-called “Better Voting Nevada” initiative, made their final pitches to the court in oral arguments before the justices.

Nevada Supreme Court judges heard oral arguments Monday in a case challenging the constitutionality of state funding for its K-12 education system, after a lower court dismissed the parent-led lawsuit last year.

Justices made no ruling on Monday, but beyond the constitutional questions, a decision to uphold the district court’s ruling last September in favor of Senate Republicans could have major implications for lawmakers crafting the state budget this session. The extended payroll tax rate being challenged in the lawsuit brings in tens of millions of dollars in state tax revenue — meaning legislators could soon be facing a large budget hole with just weeks left in the session.

The three page order states that the Trump campaign failed to identify any direct “unsupported factual findings” in Russell’s order that it wished to challenge under the appeal, and the court itself has “identified none.”

The appeal notice was filed Monday afternoon before the state’s highest court and marks the likely last chance for the president’s campaign to challenge election results in Nevada, as Tuesday marks a federal “safe harbor” election deadline where states must certify election results or resolve litigation before members of the Electoral College meet to cast their votes for president by Dec. 14.

The Nevada Supreme Court accepted the results of the 2020 general election on Tuesday, making official the results of a contentious election that has sparked numerous legal challenges seeking to cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral process in the Silver State.

So far, the PAC has started a TV advertising campaign aimed at boosting the candidacy of state Supreme Court candidate Douglas Herndon, an Eighth Judicial District Court judge running against Democratic Assemblyman and attorney Ozzie Fumo for the open seat on the seven-member court. Herndon’s political affiliation is described as “Republican” by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state cannot reshuffle existing water rights to prevent environmental damage, despite recognizing a legal principle that requires the government to preserve natural resources for future generations.

The 5-2 decision, which was published on Friday, will allow attorneys for the nonpartisan legal division of the Legislature to represent Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Senate Secretary Claire Clift in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an extended payroll tax (about $100 million over two years) approved in the 2019 legislative session without a two-thirds vote normally required for any tax increase.

The order issued Thursday by the Nevada Supreme Court reverses a Clark County District Court’s decision and ends the possibility that Tarkanian, the son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, could again win damages from a political opponent over ads accusing him of setting up “13 fake charities that preyed on vulnerable seniors.”

According to the Nevada Judiciary’s 2019 annual report, which was released Thursday, the state’s two highest courts had 2,042 appealed cases pending at the end of the 2019 fiscal year — a slight decrease from last year’s record-high backlog of 2,201 pending cases.

Attorneys for the Clark County public defender’s office faced off with their counterparts in the Clark County district attorney’s office in Carson City over a pair of consolidated cases that public defenders hope to use set a major precedent and add substantial restrictions on the use of cash bail for pretrial detention.

In oral arguments before the justices on Monday, attorneys Marc Elias and Michael K. Wall made their final pitches to the nine members of the state highest court, as part of an appeal made by backers of the recalls challenging a Clark County District Court’s decision finding signatures for the recalls were insufficient for a special election.