Nevada Asks Court to Ax Rebekah Charleston Challenge to Legalized Prostitution

Read the state’s Motion To Dismiss the Rebekah Charleston complaint

Charleston v. State of Nevada, an idiotic, ideologically-motivated lawsuit challenging Nevada’s law permitting legalized prostitution in licensed brothels should be thrown out, the state told a federal court April 3.

Plaintiffs Rebekah Charleston, Angela Delgado-Williams, and Leah Albright-Byrd said they’re victims of sex trafficking that were ‘forced’ to travel to the state to engage in prostitution.

Backed by the same prohibitionists who lost at the ballot last year in their attempt to ban legal brothels, the women filed suit in United Stated District Court, claiming the Nevada laws permitting licensed brothels run afoul of the federal Mann Act, which criminalizes the interstate transport “of any woman or girl for prostitution, debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”

See our discussion of the Mann Act, and its ignominious origins, here.

People of good intentions can disagree as a policy matter whether prostitution should be criminalized; however, such policy debates are reserved for the legislative chamber rather than the courts. There is no conflict between federal law and Nevada law here because federal law does not criminalize prostitution and both Nevada law and federal law criminalize sex trafficking whereever it occurs in Nevada. To the extent that there may be tension between Nevada law and federal law, Plaintiffs improperly seek an advisory opinion from this Court and a judicial remedy for a policy dispute properly committed to the legislative branches of government.

The Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford’s Motion To Dismiss pretty well sums up everything that’s wrong with the suit — legally speaking.

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Readers interested in who this Rebekah Charleston character is, and the many many holes in her story, should visit this page.