if NRS 213.1243(8) was not enjoined, the State should be precluded from
pressing charges against White under that statute because of the positions
taken by the Nevada Attorney General's Office and the Legislative
Counsel Bureau that the statute's operation had been suspended.
In the federal case, the State of Nevada appealed the federal
court injunction, and in 2012, the Ninth Circuit overturned the injunction
as related to A.B. 579 and remanded the injunction over S.B. 471 to the
federal district court. ACLU of Nevada v. Masto, 670 F.3d 1046 (9th Cir.
2012). In February 2013, the federal district court issued an order
narrowing the scope of the injunction against S.B. 471. The 2013 order
clarifies the scope of the injunction over NRS 213.1243(8), the statute
under which White was charged.
In the instant appeal—which pre-dates the February 2013
order narrowing the injunction—the parties devote the majority of their
efforts to arguing the scope of the 2008 injunction. Although White briefly
raises constitutional and fairness concerns for lack of notice that his
conduct could subject him to a felony charge, especially given the
Legislative Counsel Bureau and Attorney General's Office opinions, these
concerns were neither fully briefed to, nor decided by, the district court.
These issues deserve development in the first instance in the district
court. We therefore vacate the district court's order dismissing the
conviction and remand to the district court to determine: (1) the effect of
the 2013 order, which clarified the scope of the injunction; (2) White's
liability under the pre-2008 statutory scheme if the amendments cannot
be enforced against White; (3) the effect of the uncertainty, if any, of the
law concerning NRS 213.1243(8) at the time White was charged and
convicted; and (4) such other issues as the parties may raise on remand.
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This order constitutes our final disposition of this appeal. Any
subsequent appeal shall be docketed as a new matter.
It is so ORDERED.
C.J.
Gibbons
J.
Hardesty
Parraguirre
, J.
J.
Saitta
cc: Hon. Jessie Elizabeth Walsh, District Judge
Attorney General/Carson City
Clark County District Attorney
Clark County Public Defender
Eighth District Court Clerk
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