First Amendment 1, Sahara 0; Pennsylvania sets record

In what must have been an easy call for jurisprudence, a Clark County judge has ash canned the Sahara‘s frivolous lawsuit against Vital Vegas author Scott Roeben. “Ill-considered” was about the nicest thing Judge Trevor Atkin had to say in granting Roeben’s anti-SLAPP motion, leaving Alex Meruelo free to appeal, if he’s a glutton for punishment. He’s already on the hook for Roeben’s legal fees—and Lord knows how much PR to repair the Sahara’s battered reputation. Roeben’s counter motion—crafted by Nevada treasure Marc Randazza—disclosed many damning details about the casino’s operations, dirty linen we’re sure Meruelo would have preferred to keep in the bag. As Roeben recapitulates, “We had a source for our Sahara story, a representative of a liquidation company asked to bid for the removal and sale of all the physical assets at Sahara. The liquidation bids were set to expire at the end of September, according to the source, hence his belief the resort might close at that time.”