Las Vegas Justice Court leaders are keeping the Strip ban court in the rearview mirror, saying they have no plans to resurrect the Resort Corridor Court that once let judges bar people from the resort corridor. The short-lived program, which centralized low-level cases from the Strip and relied on so-called “order-out” bans, was dissolved late last year after judges questioned whether it was legal and worth the resources. For now, court administrators say trespass and ban orders will stay in regular dockets, handled case by case instead of through a dedicated Strip court.
In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, court leadership said there is “no intention” to bring back the specialty court and that judges will continue using individual order-out orders when they think those are warranted. Justice of the Peace Melisa De La Garza made the remark while laying out how the court expects to manage the Strip-heavy caseload going forward.
How the court worked
The specialty court launched in early 2023 with a clear mission: pull together criminal cases from the resort corridor and streamline how they were punished, including through order-out bans that could keep defendants off the Strip for months at a time. A majority of Justice Court judges voted in November 2024 to scrap the program, citing concerns about whether it could be sustained and the lack of built-in social services for the people cycling through it. Critics told lawmakers the model fueled a steady churn of misdemeanor arrests for unhoused residents instead of steering them toward housing or treatment, according to Nevada Legislature minutes.
Where the politics stand
The idea of reviving the corridor court did not die quietly. It resurfaced as part of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s broad crime package, which would let Clark County formally designate a “resort corridor” and require detailed reporting on crime there. Resort operators and the powerful Culinary Union have urged lawmakers to bring back corridor tools, arguing they helped keep repeat offenders away and protected both workers and tourists, according to the Associated Press.
Record reviews and analysis of Justice Court data show that more than 4,100 people received order-out bans while the program was running, and that most of those orders stemmed from trespass cases, not violent offenses. After judges pulled the plug on the specialty court, the number of active order-out orders dropped sharply in 2025 even as resort leaders publicly pushed to bring the program back. Those trends were documented by The Nevada Independent.
Costs and logistics
Money and manpower are central to why court leaders are not rushing to reboot the Strip-focused docket. Administrators plan to seek roughly $400,000 to deal with resort corridor workloads, and Las Vegas police have estimated a per-inmate housing cost that county and court officials say weighs heavily on whether a centralized court makes sense. Those budget pressures and practical logistics will shape any future decision about carving out a dedicated Strip calendar, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Legal questions
Civil-liberties advocates and defense attorneys argue the corridor model brushes up against constitutional lines, potentially limiting people’s freedom of movement on public sidewalks and, in effect, banishing them from public spaces around the Strip. Public defenders told the Assembly Judiciary Committee the court had become a “revolving door” for unhoused people, and testimony also raised red flags about possible separation-of-powers issues if lawmakers try to dictate how judges report data or run their operations. Those concerns are reflected in the Nevada Legislature minutes and related committee records.
Even if new legislation passes, judges would still have to vote to reestablish a dedicated Resort Corridor Court, and the Clark County Commission would need to draw formal corridor boundaries before any such program could function. As The Nevada Independent notes, that process means the outcome will rest on a mix of legal authority, budget decisions and public pressure, not just whatever comes out of Carson City.
For now, the specialty Resort Corridor Court is off the table, but the tug-of-war among resorts, unions, judges and civil-rights advocates over how to keep the Strip safe is still very much alive. Expect more hearings, budget pitches and testy public testimony as officials continue to weigh safety concerns, costs and civil-liberties tradeoffs.
